PayPal’s international digital money transfer service, Xoom has announced its integration with NPCI’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI). With this integration, NRIs and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) living in the United States, Canada and Europe can now remit money to family and friends in India instantly.

PayPal says this makes remittances easier as overseas senders only need to know Indian receivers’ UPI ID to send remittances instantly, 24x7 and 365 days of the year. Xoom customers can use UPI payments to remit money to 66 banks across India, including leading banks like State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Andhra, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Indian Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank, Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Federal Bank.

World Bank data reveals that India’s burgeoning population of NRIs and PIOs makes it the top market for remittances globally. “India is a focus market for Xoom. The average transaction value of money sent to India via the service is four times higher compared to most other countries,” the company said in a statement. 

UPI is currently among the most preferred method of digital transactions. This was seen in the number of UPI-based payments hitting a new milestone in December 2020 crossing 2.23 billion transactions amounting to transactions worth US$ 56 billion (Rs 4.16 lakh crore), according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).  

“Xoom, our global remittance service, is a pioneer in creating fast, innovative and secure digital money transfers. Real-time payments via UPI have been a critical and essential payment tool during the pandemic and emerged as one of the most popular payments method in our country,” said Nath Parameshwaran, Director, India entities & Corporate Affairs, PayPal India. “India is an important market for us. We are delighted that Indian diaspora across many markets can now use UPI to send remittances to their loved ones back home with Xoom,” he added.