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India and Maldives have signed an agreement to introduce the Unified Payments Interface in the archipelago nation, which will have a "very positive" impact on its tourism sector, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Friday during Jaishankar's three-day official visit to the Maldives."Witnessed signing of MoU between (the) National Payments Corporation of India and (the) Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Maldives on (the) introduction of (a) digital payment system in the Maldives," he said in a post on X.Developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Unified Payment Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system to facilitate inter-bank transactions through mobile phones.Addressing a press conference with his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer after their "productive discussions", Jaishankar said that India, through its UPI, has "revolutionised digital transactions".

Stressing that it has taken financial inclusion in India to new levels, he said "Today 40 per cent of the world’s real-time digital payments take place in our country.""We see this revolution, every day in our lives. I am pleased to note that with the signing of the MoU today, we have taken the first step towards bringing this digital innovation to Maldives," he said."I wish the very best to stakeholders on both sides and hope that we will soon see the first UPI transaction here. I should mention that it will have a very positive impact on tourism," he added.

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