BHIM-UPI App launched in Bhutan

New Delhi, Jul 13 (UNI) Payments app BHIM-UPI was launched in Bhutan on Tuesday, connecting seamlessly the payment infrastructures of the two countries.

The app will enhance the ease of living and ease of travelling through cashless transactions and help a large number of tourists and businessmen from India who travel to Bhutan each year, said the finance ministry.

Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with her counterpart from Bhutan, Lyonpo Namgay Tshering, jointly launched BHIM–UPI in the neighbouring country in a virtual ceremony.

Bhutan is the first country in India’s immediate neighbourhood to adopt mobile-based payments through the BHIM App.

Sitharaman said the services have started in Bhutan under India’s Neighbourhood First policy.

The app’s launch fulfils the commitment made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bhutan in 2019.

India and Bhutan have already enabled inter-operability in acceptance of Rupay cards in each other’s countries in two phases – acceptance of Rupay cards issued in India at Bhutan based terminals in the first phase, and vice versa in the second phase.

Bhutan is the first country to adopt UPI standards for its QR deployment, and the first country in our immediate neighbourhood to accept mobile-based payments through the BHIM App.

Sitharaman also made a live transaction using BHIM-UPI to purchase an organic product from a Bhutanese OGOP outlet, which sells fresh farm produce from local communities in Bhutan.