NIPL, Liquid Group ink pact

Hyderabad: NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), an international arm of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has partnered with Singapore based Liquid Group Pvt Ltd, a leading cross border digital payments provider, to enable Unified Payments Interface (UPI) QR-based payments acceptance in 10 markets across North Asia and Southeast Asia.

Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL, said: "This strategic partnership with Liquid Group is a formidable step towards achieving our vision of taking our robust and popular payments solutions to global markets. This will enable UPI QR-based payment acceptance and scale-up in Asian markets."

Jeremy Tan, Founder and CEO, Liquid Group, adds: "In anticipation of the resumption of cross-border travel soon, we have been working with our merchant acquiring partners to prepare for the acceptance of contactless QR payments from overseas. UPI has made exponential growth in India and we look forward to support its rapid expansion across the region."

UPI is amongst the most successful real-time payment (RTP) systems globally, providing simplicity, safety, and security in person to person (P2P) and person to merchant (P2M) transactions. In 2020, UPI enabled commerce worth $457 Billion, which is equivalent to approximately 15 per cent of India's GDP. Liquid Group operates a QR payment acceptance network that enables the cross-border acceptance of payment schemes and digital payment apps. It integrates an extensive network of merchant acquiring partners in the 10 markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. By collectively providing harmonised operating rules, streamlined user experience as well as common compliance standards, Liquid Group and its network of merchant acquiring partners are well placed to support the internationalisation of UPI Payments. The collaboration between NIPL and Liquid Group will enable BHIM app users to make UPI QR-based payments at over 2 million merchants progressively across North Asia and Southeast Asia from early 2022.