India, Ghana agree for early operationalisation of UPI on Ghana interbank payment systems

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India and Ghana are working to link their payment systems – Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) respectively to permit users to make instant, low-cost fund transfers on a reciprocal basis.

The two countries have also delved into discussions regarding the possibilities of a Memorandum of Understanding on Digital Transformation Solutions; Local Currency Settlement System and the opportunities offered by African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

“They agreed to work expeditiously towards the operationalisation of NPCI’s (National Payments Corporation of India) UPI on Ghana’s GHIPSS within a period of 6 months,” the Department of Commerce said on the social media platform X (formerly twitter). India’s UPI has already reached countries including Singapore and the UAE.

Also Read: UPI transactions dip slightly in April, but see 50% growth year-on-year

Talks are also on with Nigeria for the same. These issues were discussed during the visit of a seven-member Indian delegation led by Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Amardeep Singh Bhatia to Accra, Ghana on May 2-3.

NPCI International has recently announced its partnership with Bank of Namibia to support them in developing a UPI-like real-time payment system in the African nation. The bilateral trade between India and the West African nation Ghana has increased to $2.87 billion in 2022-23 from $2.6 billion in 2021-22.

The trade gap is in the favour of Ghana mainly due to imports of gold by India which accounts for nearly 80% of total imports from Ghana. Ghana exports gold, cocoa, cashew nuts and timber products, among others, to India.

It imports pharmaceuticals, agricultural machinery, transport vehicles, electrical equipment, plastics, iron and steel, ethyl alcohol, beverages and spirits, cereals, made-up textiles from India.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow