Eiffel steps with UPI

Sujoy Dhar

New Delhi-based interior design executioner Neil Tyagi is “always-on-a-shoestring-budget” traveller. In his late 30s, he loves to pack his bare minimum capsule wardrobe that fits in a cabin bag. This February, when he left for the French city of Montpellier that offered him an opportunity to travel for work, he had not bargained for Paris, and thought of using only the Charles de Gaulle Airport as his port of entry to France. However, on his way back from southern France, he had nearly a full day to spend in Paris.

Using UPI abroad

• Open UPI-enabled mobile apps such as PhonePe, Google Pay, etc.
• Ensure that your bank account is registered with the app.
• Add the recipient’s details or scan the QR code (like in case of Eiffel Tower), along with the payable amount and currency.
• Once the transaction is complete, a confirmation message is received.

He decided to make it to the summit level of Eiffel Tower this time since he had previously been to its second level. The ticket was costing him €29.40 (Rs 2,645). His credit card was reaching its limit but as luck would have it, he found that at Eiffel Tower, he could now purchase the level ticket payment using the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), much like paying a street vendor at Connaught Place in Delhi. He immediately logged on to the website of the Eiffel Tower and made the payment via UPI.

“The UPI option made my day, and though the Indian passport is not as strong as that of many developed countries, I felt proud to be an Indian staying ahead of the curve,” says Tyagi.

While India’s UPI revolution is winning over foreign travellers to India, now the globe-trotting and empowered Indian traveller can easily make purchases abroad, including buying a ticket to the iconic Eiffel Tower via the UPI. The initiative became possible after the NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), in partnership with Lyra, French leader in securing e-commerce and proximity payments, announced the acceptance of the UPI payment mechanism in France starting with the Eiffel Tower.

The official announcement was made in Paris at an event organised by the Indian embassy to celebrate the Republic Day. This announcement is of particular significance considering that Indian tourists rank as the second largest group of international visitors to the Eiffel Tower. With this development, Indian tourists can now make secure online transactions by simply using their UPI-powered apps to scan the QR code generated on the merchant website and initiate a payment. NIPL said the service will soon be extended to other merchants in the tourism and retail space in France. This will make it significantly easier for touring Indians to remotely book hotels, museum visits, etc, for their stay in France.

Says Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL, “At NIPL, our ambition is to enable the acceptance of NPCI payment solutions in international markets and create a truly interoperable global payment system.”

Christophe Mariette, commercial director of Lyra France, a major player in the payment industry for banks, retailers and maintenance companies in France, says, “For the players in the French and European tourism ecosystem, this partnership represents a major advancement and the promise of new business opportunities to come.”

On February 12, PM Narendra Modi, along with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, inaugurated the UPI services in Sri Lanka and Mauritius, and RuPay card services in Mauritius.

An Indian traveller can now use the UPI to make payments in more than a dozen countries like Sri Lanka, Mauritius, France, Malaysia, Thailand, the Phillipines, Taiwan, UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Hong Kong, Oman, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, UK, etc. The UPI and RuPay card system is enabling real-time, cost-effective and convenient payments for Indians.

Says Arnab Nandy, a globe-trotting digital nomad: “Indian visitors can now make use of the interbank rate with the help of UPI in foreign countries. No need to buy foreign currency at high rates or to use cards.” Meanwhile, foreign tourists to India continue to trust the UPI system. “UPI payments influence 80 per cent of foreign tourist experiences in India,” claims a survey by CheqUPI, the first UPI platform in the country for foreign nationals.

A word of caution though. While some apps may not charge extra for using UPI International, you need to be mindful of your bank’s international conversion fee charges and forex charges. The exact charges and fees for international UPI transactions depend on the payment service providers, and regulatory guidelines.