In a groundbreaking development, tourists visiting the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris can now seamlessly book their trips using India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI), as announced by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Friday.
NPCI’s international arm, NPCI International Payments (NIPL), has collaborated with French e-commerce and payments platform Lyra to facilitate UPI payment acceptance in France, starting with the Eiffel Tower.
During an event organised by the Indian Embassy in France to celebrate India’s Republic Day, the NPCI revealed that Indian tourists, constituting the second-largest group of international visitors to the Eiffel Tower, can now swiftly purchase tickets online using the UPI payment mechanism. This move aims to streamline the transaction process, making it quick, easy, and hassle-free.
The initiative makes the Eiffel Tower the inaugural merchant in France to offer UPI payments, with plans to extend this service to other merchants in the tourism and retail sectors across France and Europe.
Also Read– Budget 2024: 30 Crore Loans Under PM Mudra Yojana Given To Women Entrepreneurs, says FM
Tourists can effortlessly initiate payments by scanning a QR code generated on the merchant’s website.
Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NIPL, expressed the aspiration to enhance the global acceptance of NPCI’s payment solutions, creating an interoperable global payment system. He emphasised the commitment to collaborating with financial institutions worldwide to provide consumers with convenient and secure cross-border payment solutions.
Christophe Mariette, Lyra France’s commercial director, highlighted the significance of this partnership for the French and European tourism ecosystem, anticipating new business opportunities.
Also Read– Generative AI and its impact on the legal industry
Lyra, with 17 years of presence in India, sees this collaboration as a major advancement in facilitating seamless transactions for players in the tourism sector.
