French payment company Worldline has joined forces with the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to expand the acceptance of Indian payment methods across Europe.
As part of the partnership, Worldline will bring more convenience for Indian customers in European markets by allowing merchants’ point-of-sale (POS) systems to accept payments from India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay, according to a Monday (Oct. 10) press release.
NPCI enables digital payments and settlement systems in India and is an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
UPI is India’s instant real-time payment system and RuPay is NPCI’s proprietary card payment network solution. In June, Rupay became the first payment solution to connect to the India-wide UPI system.
Read more: RuPay Card Granted First UPI Connection by India’s Central Bank
India is an important tourist markets for Europe, per the release, which notes some 10 million Indians traveled to the region each year before to the pandemic and tourist numbers are now increasing after dropping due to global travel restrictions.
While Indians who travel to Europe pay through international card networks, WorldPay said that the new partnership will enhance the customer experience and open up new business prospects for merchants.
“Our analyses of international customers’ payment behavior have indicated a push away from international card schemes in recent times, and a preference for any mobile payment method” with which consumers are familiar, Worldline Deputy CEO Marc-Henri Desportes said in the press release.
“Our partnership with NPCI International seeks to mitigate the risk of excluding or limiting Indian customers from safely using electronic payments in the EU,” Desportes said.
“In Worldline, we found a partner that provides us with good coverage of the European markets as well as an advanced and universally applicable solution,” said NIPL CEO Ritesh Shukla.
“The roll-out of acceptance of UPI-powered Apps and RuPay Cards across Europe is important to us, as we expect increased mobility of Indians in the continent in the coming years. We believe this partnership will empower Indian consumers to continue using their preferred payment modes as they travel across Europe.”
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