Western Union and NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), the international arm of National Payment Corporation of India, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bolster real-time[i] bank account payouts in India.
NIPL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India and an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This collaboration will enable customers in India to receive international money transfers in real-time into their bank accounts in the country. NIPL, being an internationally focused subsidiary of NPCI, is looking to drive deep collaboration with overseas partners in the areas of remittance, acceptance and real-time payments infrastructure.
India is a highly banked country, with 80% of Indian adults[ii] holding an account. Over the next few months, the two companies will work closely together to enable bank account holders in India to receive cross-border money transfers seamlessly and instantly, including using UPI IDs.
Globally, Western Union can process payouts into billions of bank accounts, including millions of wallets and cards across more than 125 countries and territories, with real-time capabilities in 100 of these countries. Additionally, it also offers payout in cash at approximately 600,000 agent locations in 200+ countries and territories.
According to the World Bank, in 2020, India was the top remittance-receiving country in the world, a spot it has held since 2008. Western Union serves customers via a range of retail and digital solutions in India, facilitating convenient service access for all. Currently, Western Union’s agent retail network in India is comprised of 110,000+ locations[iii].