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Trinidad & Tobago has become the first country in the Caribbean region to adopt India’s UPI platform
India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has now reached Caribbean shores, with Trinidad and Tobago becoming the first nation in the region to adopt the instant digital payment system.
The development is an outcome of an agreement that India’s NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) and the Ministry of Digital Transformation (MDT) of Trinidad and Tobago had signed on September 26, 2024. With this, Trinidad and Tobago joins nations such as France, Singapore, Mauritius and the UAE that have adopted India’s UPI technology.
“High Commissioner Dr. Pradeep Rajpurohit and Dr. Alvin Hilaire, Governor, T&T Central Bank witnessed exchange of Agreement between India’s @NPCI_NPCI-NIPL and @MDT_TT at Ministry’s headquarters on 26 Sep 2024. @IndianDiplomacy @MeitY @dpa_india,” the official X handle @IndiainTandT shared in a post, about the signing ceremony held in Port of Spain.
The deal gives Trinidad and Tobago complete ownership of UPI within its borders, besides operational and developmental control. It includes a skill transfer component, which means that the Caribbean nation can work at improving its digital payment system.
The nation’s adopting UPI technology is in sync with its aspiration for digital growth. For Trinidad and Tobago, adopting UPI is a significant step towards economic development as, besides improving payment services, the technology will also lead to tax compliance and facilitate administration of social welfare initiatives.
The agreement between the two nations comes after more than a year of discussions, which began in August 2023 during the India visit of Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Senator Hassel Bacchus. The two nations hosted a series of meetings before finalising the deal.
India launched the UPI movement in 2016 and the interface has gained popularity over the past eight years. According to 2023 data, the technology is today used to complete over 10 billion transactions every month. The cashless system lets customers avoid currency transaction, betters financial inclusion and boosts transparent business dealing.