“UPI evolved from a domestic innovation to a global digital public good”

Rina Penkar, Deputy Chief, International Business Product Development at NPCI International

India’s digital payments success story is increasingly shaping cross-border financial cooperation. Speaking at a workshop hosted by the Bank of Mauritius, Rina Penkar, the Deputy Chief, International Business Product Development at NPCI International, detailed how UPI and RuPay are being adapted beyond India, with Mauritius emerging as a key partner in the expanding digital payments network.

K.V. 

India’s experience shows that digital payments can be scaled rapidly without sacrificing inclusion, trust or regulatory oversight; provided they are built on strong public digital infrastructure, close coordination between regulators and banks, and an ecosystem that allows private innovation to thrive. For Rina Penkar, Deputy Chief, International Business Product Development at NPCI International, the UPI-RuPay partnership is not simply a payments rollout, but part of a broader model that connects identity, data and transactions to drive financial inclusion at population scale.

Inclusion by design, not by exception

Speaking at a workshop organised by the Bank of Mauritius on the rollout of UPI mobile payments and RuPay card acceptance in Mauritius, as well as the broader implications of India-Mauritius collaboration for digital payments and cross-border financial connectivity, Rina Penkar began by situating India’s digital transformation within the country’s demographic and economic realities. With a population of 1.46 billion people, 22 official languages and a workforce where around 58% are informally employed, India faced the challenge of designing systems capable of serving everyone.

“Designing systems that work for everyone is not a choice, it is a necessity,” she said, stressing that inclusion must be embedded at the architectural level rather than treated as an afterthought.

Rapid digital adoption has helped make this possible. India today counts over 1.17 billion mobile connections and nearly one billion internet users, supported by affordable data plans that have enabled digital services to reach small merchants and remote communities, well beyond urban centres and large enterprises.

India Stack as the backbone of scale

At the core of this transformation lies India Stack, a suite of interoperable digital public platforms designed to operate at population scale. Central to it is Aadhaar, India’s biometric digital identity system, which provides portable digital identity to nearly one billion users.

“Designing systems that work for everyone is not a choice, it is a necessity”

The Deputy Chief noted that around 15 million Aadhaar-based e-KYC transactions are processed every day, forming the foundation for seamless onboarding into financial and public services. These services are reinforced by eSign and DigiLocker, which together have already issued more than 9.4 billion digital documents.

“These platforms are empowering a rapidly growing paperless digital economy built on trust, consent and interoperability,” she said.

NPCI and the ecosystem-led payments model

Building on this infrastructure is the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which Rina Penkar described as a key pillar of India Stack’s cashless layer. Incorporated in 2008 under the guidance of the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Banks’ Association, NPCI was designed as an umbrella organisation to drive sovereign and resilient retail payment systems.

Through platforms such as IMPS, AEPS and UPI, NPCI has enabled India’s transition from a cash-heavy economy to a digital, inclusive and resilient payments ecosystem. The defining strength of this model, the Deputy Chief explained, lies in its ecosystem-led architecture: fintechs and wallets innovate on user experience, banks safeguard funds and manage liquidity, while NPCI operates the network and interbank settlement layer to ensure efficiency, scale and interoperability.

“This powerful collaboration has unlocked unprecedented outcomes,” she said.

UPI’s scale and global relevance

At the centre of this ecosystem is UPI, now one of the largest real-time payments platforms in the world. In December 2025 alone, UPI processed more than 21.6 billion transactions, representing a total value of approximately ₹28 trillion.

“These platforms are empowering a rapidly growing paperless digital economy built on trust, consent and interoperability”

Today, UPI has the capacity to process nearly one billion transactions per day, commands over 85% of digital payments in India, and accounts for close to 49% of instant payments globally.

“What began as a domestic innovation has now evolved into a global digital public good,” Rina Penkar observed.

Through NPCI International, this vision is indeed being extended beyond India’s borders, with payment platforms adapted to local regulatory frameworks and market needs.

Mauritius as a strategic partner

For Mauritius, the collaboration with NPCI International represents a strategic step in modernising its payments infrastructure while strengthening financial ties with India. Under the joint aegis of the Reserve Bank of India and the Bank of Mauritius, UPI mobile applications and RuPay card payments have been enabled across the island.

The initiative includes the issuance of RuPay international cards by Bank of Baroda (Mauritius) and SBI Mauritius Ltd, enabling seamless transactions both within Mauritius and in India. “Both payment modes have been operational since February 2024,” Rina Penkar said.

A RuPay card processing stack has also been deployed at the Bank of Mauritius, enabling the operation and processing of RuPay cards issued and accepted in India.

Scaling adoption and what comes next

Penkar welcomed the participation of additional institutions, including the Mauritius Commercial Bank, State Bank of Mauritius, Blink, Mighty and other fintech players, to help scale adoption for consumers, merchants and the broader economy.

NPCI International is working with regulators, banks and fintech partners to expand the UPI merchant footprint, supported by joint marketing and awareness initiatives. Discussions are also underway to enable person-to-person cross-border remittances between India and Mauritius, covering both inward and outward flows.

“The future of payments is not just about speed or scale,” Rina Penkar said, “it is about empowering people, connecting economies and building trusted digital bridges that serve everyone.”