India, Russia to explore possibility of accepting RuPay and Mir cards

Tags: Economy/Finance

India and Russia will explore the possibility of accepting RuPay and Mir cards in each other's country for hassle-free payments amid sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow.

An overview of the news

• In the recent meeting of the High Level Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), it was discussed and agreed to explore the possibility of allowing acceptance of these cards.

• The mutual acceptance of RuPay (India) and Mir cards (Russia) will help Indian and Russian citizens to make hassle-free payments in Indian rupees and Russian ruble in their respective countries

• The meeting was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Russia Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov.

• They agreed to explore the possibility of interaction with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of National Payment Corporation of India and the Faster Payments System (FPS) of the Bank of Russia.

• The two countries agreed to adopt the Russian Financial Messaging System, the Service Bureau of the Bank of Russia's Financial Messaging System, for cross-border payments.

What is Mir?

• Mir is a payment system in Russia.

• It waslaunched in 2017.

• The Central Bank of Russia has established the function of this payment option.

• The Russian national card payment system operatesit.

• Sberbank was the first Russian bank to issue payment cards under the Mir brand.