Now Indian citizens can easily make payments in the UAE using the UPI app, just like in India.

New Delhi: Merchants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are now accepting payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Indian rupees to attract Indian customers after the Indian government promoted UPI as a global payments platform.

Lulu, one of the largest retailers in the United Arab Emirates, now offers its customers the option to accept payments via UPI at all its stores in the country.

Now Indian citizens can easily make payments in the UAE using the UPI app, just like in India. The amount paid will be deducted from their bank account in India. This makes it easy for Indian citizens and NRIs in the UAE to shop and make financial transactions in rupees using UPI, just like in India.

UPI payments were introduced in the UAE in early July. Apart from Lulu, payments via UPI are accepted by many large and small merchants in the UAE.

Indian citizens and NRIs in the UAE can easily pay at point-of-sale (POS) devices using QR codes.

“The number of Indian travellers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is estimated to reach 9.8 million in 2024. Around 5.3 million Indians are expected to travel to the United Arab Emirates alone,” says the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

The Government of India, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and NPCI International are working together to promote UPI on the global platform. UPI is officially accepted in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, France and Bhutan.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based transactions increased 35 percent in July compared to the same period last year, reaching Rs 20.64 billion (previously Rs 20.07 billion).

The total number of UPI transactions increased by almost 4 percent to 14.44 billion in July (month-on-month), up from 13.89 billion in the previous month.

The average daily transaction volume was 466 million in July, compared to 463 million in June.

(With IANS inputs)