Maldives and India form an agreement to launch the UPI service in Maldives. The Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was recently on a three-day visit to Maldives. The memorandum of understanding signed during the visit indicates rebuilding the India-Maldives connection. After the Boycott Maldives movement, the tourism sector of the Maldives was impacted a lot. Lakshadweep tourism saw a sudden boom at that time. How will the launch of the UPI in Maldives recover the tourism of Maldives?
India To Launch UPI In Maldives
The UPI services will launch in the Maldives soon. It will create a positive impact on the tourism sector of the country. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding took place on Friday. NPCI (National Payments Corporation Of India) launched the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). It makes the inter-bank transactions easy. It has a big contribution to the expansion of digitalization in the country.
Jaishankar highlighted the importance of the UPI at the conference. According to the data, 40% of the real-time digital payments take place in India through UPI. It is a huge number to achieve by a single country itself. Jaishankar further shows his willingness to see the first UPI transaction from the country. Maldives is surrounded by the sea. Thus, it has a lot of earnings from the tourism sector. The beauty of the country and its beachside attracts a lot of newly-wed couples.
Mr Jaishankar further talks about the efforts to bring harmony and strengthen the bond between India and Maldives. Previously, Maldives’ relations with India were disturbed. It was the time when a lot of tourists started posting Boycott Maldives. Thus, the Indian travel companies started providing offers on the tours and packages of Lakshadeep. PM Modi also spent time on the Lakshadweep Island promoting its beauty.
On putting steps forward towards India-Maldives friendship, the Foreign Minister, Zameer also mentions about the close friendship both the countries have. He also said India is a vital development partner of Maldives. Zameer also talks about the other initiatives in strengthening the bond.
He talks about the continuation of the joint exercises and launching more training opportunities for the officers of India and Maldives. The ties started breaking a year ago when President Muizzu asked the Indian Military to withdraw from their aviation platforms. However, things seem to becoming better now. Both countries are putting more effort into continuing their precious bond. Stay tuned for more information.