According to reports, NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), the international subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has signed an agreement with the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP) to deploy a real-time digital payments systemin Peru, similar to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

This partnership makes Peru the first South American country to adopt NPCI technology and marks the second collaboration between NIPL and the central bank to implement the UPI framework internationally. Last month, NIPL signed an agreement with the Bank of Namibia to develop an instant payment system similar to UPI.

“Our partnership with the BCRP aims to strengthen Peru’s financial infrastructure, to foster economic growth. We will be working together to address our common objective of promoting digital payments, financial inclusion, cost optimization, and transparency in the payment landscape, with scope for further scalability and adaptability, to embrace future technological advancements and market demands,” says Ritesh Shukla, CEO, NPCI International.

This partnership will enable BCRP to facilitate instant payments between individuals and businesses in Peru, as well as expand the use of digital payments among the large unbanked population.

“We believe this marks a significant step in strengthening and modernizing our payments system, aiming to expand access to digital payments in Peru. The support of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been a cornerstone of this agreement. The BCRP aims to promote financial inclusion, security, and efficiency, and to introduce new use cases in digital payments,” says Julio Velarde, governor of the BCRP.

This development comes as RBI and NPCI expand UPI's presence in other parts of the world. According to RBI's Annual Report 2023-24, the central bank plans to introduce UPI along with NPCI in 20 countries with an initial timeline of 2024-25 and a completion date of 2028-29.