- within Employment and HR, Government, Public Sector and International Law topic(s)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 21 November, 2025, issued a press release announcing that it has entered the realization phase of an initiative to interlink India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) platform operated by the Eurosystem. This step advances efforts to strengthen cross-border payments, offering faster, more efficient, and accessible options between India and Europe.
What is Changing?
Under this initiative, the RBI and NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) will continue to collaborate closely with the European Central Bank, and will work together to establish the legal, operational, and technical arrangements required to enable seamless connectivity between UPI and TIPS. This includes developing the necessary system linkages, settlement mechanisms, and risk-management frameworks to support instant payment flows between India and euro-area jurisdictions. Once implemented, this linkage is expected to offer faster and more transparent cross-border payment capabilities for businesses and individuals.
Our Comments
This development opens-up meaningful opportunities for Indian
corporates and financial institutions operating in or with payment
flows to/from Europe, as it enables them to enhance treasury
efficiency and reduce currency conversion or intermediary
costs.
At the same time, this new connectivity introduces several
considerations for companies. Organizations are encouraged to
evaluate their existing payment infrastructure, confirm that
banking partners and counterparties are prepared for the upcoming
framework, and review potential implications for AML/KYC processes,
settlement timelines, foreign-exchange exposure, and system
integrations. Organizations are also encouraged to engage with
their banks or payment-service providers to understand
implementation plans and assess whether their cross-border payment
flows can be optimised once the interlinking arrangement becomes
operational.
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