India and New Zealand explore adoption of UPI to biz, boost trade & tourism

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and New Zealand’s Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor discussed the issue on Monday during a bilateral meeting.

“This meeting is part of a sustained effort by both governments to develop a broad-based relationship, building on the excellent meeting between the Prime Ministers of both the countries in Port Moresby on 22 May 2023,” a joint statement issued by India and New Zealand read.

The two sides acknowledged the joint effort to find a feasible alternative to allow the import of wooden logs from New Zealand.

Ministers welcomed the recent commencement of the export of Indian mangoes to New Zealand as well as the progress being made by New Zealand on India’s request for allowing two additional Vapour Heat Treatment facilities in India for the export of mangoes.

Ministers welcomed early discussions between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Payments NZ regarding the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system and agreed that both sides should continue deliberations on this issue. They agreed that the introduction of UPI in New Zealand would promote ease of doing business between both countries and promote trade and tourism as well.

In 2022, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the entity responsible for UPI services, entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lyra, France's efficient and secure online payment system. Continuing into 2023, UPI established a collaboration with PayNow, Singapore's payment solution, enabling users in both nations to conduct cross-border transactions seamlessly.

The adoption of the UPI payment system has already been successfully implemented in the United Arab Emirates, Bhutan, and Nepal. The NPCI International is actively engaged in discussions to expand UPI services to the United States, Europe, and the Western Asian region.

The two countries also discussed possible innovative technical collaboration in the field of agriculture and horticulture including Kiwi fruit; pharmaceuticals; processing, storage and transportation etc.

"Ministers acknowledged the desirability of improving air connectivity between New Zealand and India, and welcomed the finalisation of the MoU to further liberalise the bilateral Air Services Agreement between the two countries," it added.