In the aftermath of the West's sanctions against Moscow, India and Russia will investigate the possibility of recognising RuPay and Mir cards in the other country for hassle-free payments. According to sources, at the most recent high-level Internal Governmental Commission meeting on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), it was discussed and agreed to investigate the possibility of accepting these cards.

According to sources, the mutual acceptance of RuPay (India) and Mir cards (Russia) will allow Indian and Russian citizens to make simple payments in Indian rupees and Russian rubles in their respective countries.    

The meeting, co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Russia Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, also agreed to investigate the possibility of integrating the National Payment Corporation of India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the Bank of Russia's Faster Payments System (FPS).

Furthermore, it was agreed to investigate the possibility of using the Russian financial messaging system, Services Bureau of Financial Messaging System of the Bank of Russia, for cross-border payments. Currently, payments from India to the rest of the world are routed through the SWIFT network. 

According to sources, it would be impossible for India to use a network other than the SWIFT network at the time sanctions are imposed.    

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently launched cross-border UPI and PayNow connectivity.

The integration of India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Singapore's PayNow now allows people in the region to make payments.

Since its inception in 2016, the UPI has emerged as the most popular and preferred payment mode, pioneering person-to-person and person-to-merchant transactions, accounting for 75% of total digital payments.