RAS question
NPCI International signed an agreement with which country's payments network to enable cross-border QR-based merchant payments linking UPI with that country's payment system?
Correct answer: (C) Malaysia.
NPCI International Payments Limited signed the agreement with Malaysia's Payments Network Malaysia to link UPI with DuitNow for cross-border QR-based merchant payments.
Explanation
The country is Malaysia because the cited NIPL press release says NPCI International Payments Limited, the international arm of NPCI, signed an agreement with Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd, or PayNet. The purpose of the agreement is to enable QR-based merchant payments between India and Malaysia by linking India's UPI ecosystem with Malaysia's DuitNow QR network. The release explains the rollout in phases: first, Indian travellers in Malaysia will be able to use UPI apps at DuitNow QR acceptance touchpoints; later, Malaysians visiting India will be able to scan UPI QR codes using DuitNow apps. That matches the question's wording on a cross-border QR-based merchant-payment link.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Singapore is wrong because the agreement counterparty named in the release is PayNet, Malaysia's national payments network; Singapore is mentioned only in PayNet's background as a country already interoperable with DuitNow.
- (B) Thailand is wrong because the UPI linkage in the release is with Malaysia's DuitNow QR system through PayNet, while Thailand appears only as part of DuitNow's existing cross-border interoperability list.
- (D) Indonesia is wrong because the release identifies Malaysia's PayNet as the partner for the NIPL agreement, not an Indonesian payments network.
Concept
This tests the Indian Economy theme of digital payments infrastructure and UPI's overseas linkage through national payment networks. It recurs in RAS-style current-affairs MCQs because the exam can frame such agreements around the institution, partner country and named payment system.