India Launches RuPay Cards and UPI Connectivity in Mauritius and Sri Lanka

• PM jointly inaugurates UPI services with Mauritius PM & Sri Lankan President
• India’s policy is ‘Neighborhood First’. Our maritime vision is SAGAR i.e. Security And Growth for All in the Region
• By connecting with UPI both Sri Lanka and Mauritius will benefit and digital transformation will get a boost”
• After Nepal, Bhutan, Singapore and UAE in the Gulf in Asia, now from Mauritius, RuPay card is being launched in Africa. 

The Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, on Monday, along with the President of Sri Lanka, Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Mr Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated the launch of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) services in Sri Lanka and Mauritius, and also RuPay card services in Mauritius via video conferencing.

Mauritius PM, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, informed that co-branded Rupay card will be designated as domestic card in Mauritius. This launch will greatly facilitate the citizens of both countries said the PM.

With this UPI services connectivity, an Indian traveller to Mauritius will be able to pay a merchant in Mauritius using UPI. Similarly, a Mauritian traveller will be able to do the same in India using the Instant Payment System (IPS) app of Mauritius.

Further, with the adoption of RuPay technology, the MauCAS card scheme of Mauritius will enable banks in Mauritius to issue RuPay cards domestically which can be used at ATMs and PoS terminals locally in Mauritius as well as in India. With this, Mauritius becomes the first country outside Asia to issue cards using RuPay technology. Indian RuPay cards would also be accepted at ATMs and PoS terminals in Mauritius.

The digital payments connectivity with Sri Lanka will enable Indian travellers to make QR code-based payments at merchant locations in Sri Lanka using their UPI apps.

These projects have been developed and executed by NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) along with partner banks / non-banks from Mauritius and Sri Lanka, under the guidance and support of Reserve Bank of India. The Bank of Mauritius and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka have also played an important role in making these possible. The above facilities have been made operational through select banks / non-banks / Third Party Application Providers in India, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. Going forward, these facilities will be scaled up.

The collaborations on India's digital payments connectivity with Mauritius and Sri Lanka through UPI and RuPay will deepen financial integration and strengthen the long historical, cultural, and economic relations of India with Mauritius and Sri Lanka.

Cabinet Approves MoU Between ISRO and Mauritius' MRIC on Joint Small Satellite Development

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC) concerning cooperation on the development of a joint small satellite.

MoU will help to establish a framework for cooperation between ISRO and MRIC on the development of a joint satellite as well as for cooperation on the use of the MRIC’s Ground Station. Some of the subsystems for the joint satellite will be taken up through the participation of Indian industries and would benefit the industry.

Collaboration through this joint development of satellite will help in further ensuring continuous support from the Mauritius Government for the Indian ground station at Mauritius, which is critical for ISRO/India’s launch vehicle and satellite missions. In addition, the joint satellite building will also help in ensuring MRIC support from their ground station for ISRO’s small satellite mission in future. Some of the subsystems for the joint satellite will be taken up through the participation of Indian industries and thus may result in employment generation.

Implementation schedule:

Signing of this MoU shall enable the joint realisation of small satellite between ISRO and MRIC. The satellite realisation is proposed to be completed in 15 months’ time frame.

Expenditure involved:

The estimated cost for realisation of the joint satellite is Rs.20 crore, which will be borne by the Government of India. This MoU does not involve any other exchange of funds between the Parties.

The space cooperation between India and Mauritius is dated way back in late 1980s when ISRO established a ground station in Mauritius for tracking and telemetry support for ISRO’s launch vehicle and satellite missions, under a country-level agreement signed in 1986 for this purpose. The current space cooperation is being governed by the country-level agreement signed on 29.7.2009, which superseded the 1986 agreement mentioned above.

Based on the interest expressed by MRIC in jointly building a small satellite for Mauritius, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) requested ISRO to initiate discussions with MRIC on realizing an India-Mauritius joint satellite, with MEA funding for realisation, launch and operation of the joint satellite. The MoU was signed on November 1, 2023 at Port Louis, Mauritius during the visit of Minister of State (MEA) to Mauritius for the ‘Aapravasi Diwas’ event.

India To Help The MSME Sector in Mauritius

MSMEs in Mauritius are facing lack of skilled people and it hinders SMEs from achieving growth according to their potential levels. So for fostering the growth, India has led a helping hand for promoting the MSME sector in Mauritius. “With India’s support the MSME sector in Mauritius has a great potential for skill development and job creation”, says Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister of MSME during the interaction with Mauritius delegation headed by their Finance Minister, Shri Pravind Jugnauth recently. He added, “Relations with Mauritius is high on the agenda of his Government and his ministry will work towards establishing Tool Rooms and Technology Centers to help skill people in specific sectors.” He also said that his Ministry will do all the possible assistance by way of Technological Assisstance to develop MSME sectors in Mauritius.

Pravind Jugnauth said “We seek India’s assistance to develop handloom and handicraft sectors in Mauritius.” He also highlighted other possible areas of bilateral cooperation like Development of Handloom, Handicraft, Tourism, Aquaculture, etc.

Senior officers from MSME Ministry discussed a range of issues of bilateral cooperation with the Mauritius delegation. The minister directed the ministry officials to make actionable points based on this interaction and work towards taking this bilateral cooperation to fruition.

Most of the MSMEs in Mauritius export products to other countries and play a major role to the economic growth of the country. However, the current situations in which these companies operate businesses make them difficult to compete at global level. So, to make them competitive at global level, the government has introduced different policies and taking steps to tie-up with the countries like India to support them.

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