Mastercard Move: India gets UPI-like cross-border payments

Mastercard is launching its 'Mastercard Move' service in India, with a primary focus on enhancing cross-border payment experiences for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and student communities. This initiative aims to simplify and expedite international money transfers, drawing inspiration from India's highly successful Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system.

Pratik Khowala, Executive Vice President at Mastercard, expressed a vision to bring a UPI-like experience to cross-border payments in India. The service is designed to address the current cumbersome and costly correspondent banking system, which often lacks transparency and leads to delays in payment receipts.

Mastercard Move boasts a vast global network, reaching 200 countries and territories and connecting over 17 billion endpoints. It supports a wide array of transaction types, including personal transfers, business-to-person (B2P) disbursements, business-to-business (B2B) payments, and government and bill payments. The platform supports 150 currencies, positioning it to serve diverse markets effectively.

Through strategic partnerships with companies like Infosys, Mastercard Move will be integrated into banking and fintech platforms via pre-built APIs. This integration will also bolster value-added services such as 'Verification of Payee' to ensure greater security and interoperability in financial transactions.

For SMEs, the service promises the ability to bill overseas buyers in currencies like Dollars or Euros and hold these funds abroad, thereby reducing foreign exchange conversion costs. Students, who often face difficulties with timely university payments, will also benefit from a more streamlined process. Mastercard anticipates significant growth in facilitating money movement into India, noting a 50% increase and a substantial annual trade growth rate.