Bhutanese users may continue to face difficulties making digital payments in India as the second phase of the Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, linkage is gradually rolled out. According to the Foreign Affairs and External Trade Minister, this could be because some merchants’ banks are not yet enabled to accept payments from Bhutanese mobile banking applications. Currently, six Indian banks support these payments.
The promise of making digital payments in India using Bhutanese mobile banking applications has not been seamless for everyone. When Bhutanese travellers scan a QR code in India, the payment does not always go through.
Some users receive an error message saying the merchant’s UPI address cannot be validated, leaving them unable to complete their transactions.
Speaking during the recent Meet the Press, Foreign Affairs and External Trade Minister D.N. Dhungyel said one possible reason for failed transactions is that some merchants’ banks have not yet been enabled to accept payments from Bhutanese mobile banking applications.
“One reason for transaction failures could be that users are trying to make payments at merchants whose banks are not yet enabled to accept payments from Bhutanese mobile banking applications. Four more banks, including State Bank of India, SDF FC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Union Bank of India, as well as major third-party payment platforms such as PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm, are currently at various stages of integration and have not yet been enabled,” added the minister.
The Minister said that once these banks and platforms are integrated, acceptance coverage could increase to approximately 80 per cent of UPI payments in India.
The second phase of the UPI linkage was launched on 17 September during the visit of India’s External Affairs Minister to Bhutan. The service has already processed more than 8,600 successful transactions in the first 20 days following its launch.
Approximately 65 million merchants accept UPI QR payments in India.
Meanwhile, the Royal Monetary Authority is working with its Indian counterparts to speed up integration, monitor transaction performance and address technical and operational issues.
Tashi Dekar
Edited by Sangay Chezom
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