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The central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has announced that it has now joined Project Nexus with the four ASEAN countries to create a platform to facilitate instantaneous cross-border retail payments.

India, ASEAN Nations Join Forces for Instant Cross-Border Payments

With the aim to connect India’s UPI (Unified Payments Interface), with the fast payment systems of ASEAN members — Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, “Nexus” is conceptualized by the Innovation Hub of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

As per the RBI, these 4 countries alongwith India shall be the founding members and first-mover nations of this platform.

As per the RBI statement, an agreement was signed by the BIS and the central banks of the founding countries i.e., Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Bank of Thailand (BOT), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Reserve Bank of India on June 30, 2024, in Basel, Switzerland for the same.

From the very start, Indonesia has been involved and it also continues to be involved as a special observer.

In order to link the link India’s Fast Payments System (FPS) – the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), with their respective FPSs for cross-border Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M) payments, India’s RBI has been collaborating bilaterally with various countries.

Project Nexus to Streamline Cross-Border Transactions by 2026

As per the RBI, “While India and its partner countries can continue to benefit through such bilateral connectivity of Fast Payment Systems, a multilateral approach will provide further impetus to our efforts in expanding the international reach of Indian payment systems”.

Going forward, the platform can be extended to more countries and the platform is also expected to go live by the year 2026.

As per the RBI statement, once Nexus is functional, it shall play a key role in making retail cross-border payments efficient, faster, and more cost-effective.