India to introduce UPI payment service in Maldives: EAM Jaishankar

India and Maldives have signed an agreement to introduce the Unified Payments Interface in the archipelago nation, which will have a "very positive" impact on its tourism sector, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Friday during Jaishankar's three-day official visit to the Maldives.

"Witnessed signing of MoU between (the) National Payments Corporation of India and (the) Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Maldives on (the) introduction of (a) digital payment system in the Maldives," he said in a post on X.

Developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Unified Payment Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system to facilitate inter-bank transactions through mobile phones.

Addressing a press conference with his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer after their "productive discussions", Jaishankar said that India, through its UPI, has "revolutionised digital transactions".

Stressing that it