PM Narendra Modi, UAE's President Nahyan launch RuPay card service in Abu Dhabi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE's President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan together launched the UPI RuPay card service here on Tuesday. President Nahyan swiped a card embossed with his name to mark the start of the service in Abu Dhabi.

“We are embarking on a new FinTech era with the launch of my UPI RuPay card and your Jaywan card,” Modi said as he met President Nahyan and termed it as a big achievement in itself.

The two leaders witnessed the exchange of multiple bilateral agreements, according to a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs.

It included an agreement on interlinking of the instant payment platforms - UPI (India) and AANI (UAE), which will facilitate seamless cross-border transactions between the two countries. This follows the MoU on interlinking payment and messaging systems signed in July last year during Modi's visit to Abu Dhabi.

Another agreement on inter-linking domestic debit/credit cards was signed vis-a-vis RuPay (India) with JAYWAN (UAE), which would serve as an important step in building financial sector cooperation and enhancing the universal acceptance of RuPay across the UAE.

A day earlier, India had announced that its UPI payment would not be available in Mauritius and Sri Lanka. Earlier on February 2, India formally launched the UPI at the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris terming it as taking Prime Minister Modi's “vision of taking UPI global.” Unified Payments Interface is an Indian instant payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2016.

On a two-day, two-nation trip to the gulf region, Modi will inaugurate the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Mandir, the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, on Wednesday. He will then proceed to Doha in Qatar.