UPI for NRIs

UPI for NRIs

#GS 03 Banking

For Prelims

NRI (Non-Resident Indian)

  • A non-resident Indian is a person who is a citizen of India or is a person of Indian origin but currently resides in a location outside India.
  • For an Indian Citizen to be considered an NRI they must be residing outside India for a combined total of at least 183 days in a financial year.
  • An NRI is given voting rights and they are eligible to hold public office in India.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

  • UPI is an advanced version of Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) which allows for round–the-clock funds transfer service to make cashless payments faster, easier and smoother.
  • UPI can link multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application of any participating bank thereby merging several banking features which helps in seamless fund routing.
  • UPI is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which also operates National Automated Clearing House (NACH), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), RuPay etc.
  • UPI was launched by NPCI in 2016 with 21 member banks.
  • The NPCI has allowed non-resident Indians to link their non-resident external accounts (NRE) and non-resident ordinary accounts (NRO) which have international numbers to be linked to UPI.
  • In October 2018 NPCI had allowed UPI transactions to and from NRO/NRE accounts linked to Indian numbers.
  • Users from ten countries (Singapore, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the U.K) will be able to avail the facility.

NRE accounts and NRO Accounts

  • NRE accounts are used by non-residents to transfer earnings from foreign countries to India while NRO accounts are used to manage their income which is earned in India.

Source “What is the government’s new policy of UPI for NRIs?

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