The National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) has now given UPI access to NRIs who hold non-resident external (NRE) or non-resident ordinary (NRO) accounts, allowing them to make transactions from their smartphones using UPI linked to their international mobile numbers, according to a Mint report.
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This means NRIs can now use UPI to send money to family or make payments in India rather than use traditional wire transfers. It is completely free and can be used even when travelling to India or other countries.
This is possible for NRIs in countries like the US, Canada, the UK, the UAE, Singapore, Australia, and more.
The NRIs can make UPI payments from specific banks like AU Small Finance Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank, City Union Bank, DBS Bank, Equitas Small Finance Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDFC First Bank, IndusInd Bank, Punjab National Bank, and South Indian Bank.
They can use applications like BHIM AU (by AU Small Finance Bank), FedMobile (by Federal Bank), iMobile (by ICICI Bank), BHIM Indus Pay (by IndusInd Bank), SIB Mirror+ (by South Indian Bank), and PhonePe to make transactions.
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There is however, a maximum transaction cap of ₹1 lakh per day, varying slightly depending on the bank. For new IDs, the limit is ₹5,000 for the the first 24 hours only.
NRIs can make transactions between NRE and NRO accounts, as well as with resident Indian accounts, but not from an NRO account to an NRE account
For multiple bank account holders, each account must have a unique UPI ID and for joint account holders, UPI is limited to the primary account holder.
NRIs can also receive funds through the ‘send to account’ option on the UPI app even if they aren’t registered on UPI.
How to set up UPI for NRIs?
NRIs have to link their international mobile numbers to their NRE or NRO bank accounts, download a UPI application compatible with international mobile numbers, like iMobile or PhonePe, perform the onboarding process, including mobile number verification, create a unique UPI ID or virtual payment address (VPA), select their bank account and submit the details to activate their UPI profile, according to the report.
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