 of Cod and QR code payments and this linkage will anchor trade travel and remittance flows between both countries and it also supports India's G20 presidency priorities to drive faster cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments. Now the Pay Now UPI linkage will also provide customers of participating banks and non-bank financial institution in Singapore and India with a swift and cost-effective way to transfer funds directly from one another's bank accounts or e-wallets simply by using the recipient's UPI ID, a mobile phone number or a virtual payment address. And today we are very honored to have PM Lee and PM Modi officiate the launch ceremony of the Pay Now UPI linkage and to witness this significant milestone. Hello there Prime Ministers, thank you so much for joining us today. So ladies and gentlemen we will have three segments of the program. We'll begin with a screening of the Pay Now UPI video. We will then affect a live cross-border funds transfer between MD Menon and Governor Das using the Pay Now and UPI platforms and then we will have PM Lee and PM Modi deliver their remarks respectively. So on that note, let me bring your attention to the screens now for the Pay Now UPI video. Indian Singapore ties are rooted in strong commercial, cultural and people-to- people links. In recent years, collaboration in digital domain has created new possibilities for the two countries. In many areas of India's development priorities, Singapore is a key partner. Smart cities, urban solutions, financial sector, skills development, ports, logistics, aviation and industrial parts. And now we are building new partnerships for the digital world. The Prime Minister and I also agreed that fintech can be another key pillar of our strategic partnership. India is a significant market for Singapore fintech companies, while Singapore, which is a global fintech hub, can be a gateway for India to enter the Southeast Asian market. Since 2014, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, digital payment landscape in India has been revolutionised. India now accounts for around 40 per cent of real-time digital payments globally, which is primarily driven by UPI. UPI backed by state-of-the-art technology enables fast and secure digital transactions, even for small amounts. PayNow in Singapore is a foremost payment platform that lets its users send and receive funds quickly, using just the mobile number. The launch of UPI, Rupi and Bheem enabled remittance app by Prime Minister Modi in Singapore in 2018, underlining the mutual spirit of breaking fresh grounds in India-Singapore partnership. Today, another milestone is being achieved as UPI and PayNow partner together for the benefit of both Indians and Singaporeans. With the help of UPI and PayNow Singapore, our people can now transact money with their loved ones in real time at low cost. This has been possible thanks to collaboration between Reserve Bank of India and Monetary Authority of Singapore. Let us see how this works. Let's try sending 100 Singapore dollars from India to Singapore. Simply log into your bank's mobile app or net banking. Go to foreign outward remittance and agree with the terms. Enter the beneficiary's mobile number or VPA upon validation, proceed for transfer, enter the amount, check the summary and exchange rates and confirm with an OTP or UPI PIN based on your application's requirement. And you are done. A success screen will get displayed. So quick, right? Now let's try sending 10,000 Indian rupees from Singapore to India. Simply log into your PayNow participating members' mobile app. Go to overseas transfer. Select UPI and enter UPI ID upon validation, enter the amount. You can see the Singapore dollar's equivalent amount and we are done with an instant confirmation of the transfer. Wow, that was fast. Presenting UPI and PayNow Singapore, making cross-border payments real-time and low-cost. That's right, making payments in real-time and low-cost. Ladies and gentlemen, now that you've seen how the PayNow UPI linkage works on video, let's affect a live cross-border transfer between MD Menon and Governor Das. And this will be witnessed by Prime Minister Lee and Prime Minister Modi. So from Singapore's end, I would like to invite MD Menon up on stage, please, MD. And we will bring up PM Lee and PM Modi as well as Governor Das on screen. How about a round of applause, please? All the gentlemen on stage. Thank you. Now to begin this segment, I would like to invite MD Menon and Governor Das to initiate a live payments transaction and transfer funds to each other simultaneously. So to my audience members, let me give you a brief description of what's happening right now. MD Menon has launched the DBS Bank mobile app and he has keyed in UPI for overseas transfer. He has then entered Governor Das' state bank of India UPI ID and keyed in an amount to be transferred to him. Likewise, Governor Das has launched the Indian Bank app, selected PayNow for overseas transfer. He has entered MD Menon's liquid pay virtual payment address and keyed in the amount to be sent to MD Menon's liquid account. So we will wait for them to get the sent notifications or successfully sent notifications. And when that's done, yes, big smiles from MD. Have a big round of applause and Governor Das too. At this juncture, we'd like to invite our Prime Ministers, MD Menon and Governor Das to pose for a group photo. MD Menon already showcasing the DBS Bank notification of a successfully sent transfer on his phone and Governor Das to displaying the Indian Bank app. So gentlemen, may I invite you to look forward, MD Menon, right to the front. And at this juncture, may I invite my guests and the audience to lower your phones please so that we can get the best shot of this worthy moment. After all, this is the launch of the inaugural PayNow UPI linkage. So once we've got that shot, I would now like to invite MD to angle your body to the left because the cameras will be zooming in on that notification app of the funds being sent successfully. We're not leaving anything to chance, ladies and gentlemen. We're going to capture all of that. Okay, wonderful. So while we wait for the receipt of funds, and I know it's going to be instantaneous, I just wanted to share a little tidbit with you as well. Ladies and gentlemen, while MD Menon has used the DBS Bank app and Governor Das was using the Indian Bank app, we actually have eight financial institutions on this linkage. From Singapore's side, we have DBS Bank and Liquid Group, and from India's side, we have Access Bank, DBS India, ICICI Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, and the State Bank of India. So MD, have you received, yes, instantaneous, very fast. This is after all real-time payments. May I invite once again our prime ministers, MD Menon and Governor Das to pose for a group photo. MD is already showcasing his phone that has the Liquid Pay app on display to show that the funds have been received successfully, and Governor Das showcasing his phone with the State Bank of India app. So let's make sure we get this shot. Audience, thank you for being wonderful and not coming into your shots with the phones. I just want to make sure we've got the shot. Thank you. And MD, may I invite you to just angle your body to the left. Once again, cameras are going to zoom in on the successfully received notification on Governors and MD's phones. So we've got the shot. Thank you very much. Congratulations on the successful transfer. Thank you very much, MD. Thank you. And thank you very much to our prime ministers for witnessing that moment. Ladies and gentlemen, the Pay Now UPI Real-Time Payment Systems linkage is officially live, and we can look forward to seamless, faster, more cost-effective real-time payments between Singapore and India. At this juncture, I would now like to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver his remarks. Prime Minister, please. Your Excellency, Prime Minister Lee, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, is the main basis of this. The launch of UPI Pay Now Link for the citizens of both countries is such an opportunity that they have been waiting for. I welcome the people of India and Singapore to this very, very much. Friends, in today's youth, technology connects us to each other in many ways. Fintech is also a sector that connects people to each other. In general, its scope is limited to the borders of one country. But today's launch has brought a new half of the cross-border fintech connectivity. Today, Singapore and India will be able to transfer money from their mobile phones in the same manner that they do in their own country. This will help the people of both countries to transfer money from their mobile phones in less expense. From this point on, both countries will be able to imagine the cost of the remittances and the real-time costs of the remittances. Our senior brothers and sisters, professionals, students, and their families will benefit from this. Friends, in the last few years, India has given the best opportunity to make the world a better place. Our digital India program has also increased the ease of living and the ease of doing business. With this, the financial inclusion of digital connectivity has also increased. Digital India has also made an opportunity for the public service delivery and public governance. The power of the digital infrastructure of India is that during the COVID pandemic, we were able to transfer money directly to the banks of millions of people. Friends, five years ago, I said in Singapore that there is a huge interest in fintech innovation and youth energy. In fintech and digital revolution, the success of India is that of our technology train. Today, in the world of fintech, thousands of start-ups of India are willing to do so. Due to this, in the case of real-time digital transaction, India is in the middle of the world. Today, UPI has become the favorite payment mechanism in India. Merchants and consumers have been more and more accepting of this. Therefore, today, many experts believe that soon the digital wallet transaction in India will become more and more profitable. Last year, in 2022, by UPI, it is close to 126 lakh crore rupees. That means more than two trillion Singapore dollars have become transactions. If I talk about the number of transactions, it is also more than 7400 crore rupees. It shows that the UPI system of India is handling such a large number of transactions in an easy and safe way. With different countries, the partnership of UPI is increasing. Singapore is the first country with which a person-to-person payment facility has been launched. I, Singapore's Monetary Authority, the Reserve Bank of India, and all the people involved in this attempt to make this a success, have done a great deal of hard work. I again congratulate the people of both countries. And I also thank the Prime Minister, Radha. Thank you. Thank you very much, Prime Minister Modi. Indeed, we look forward to the next chapter of fintech connectivity between Singapore and India. And as Prime Minister has mentioned, we have over 400,000 Indians residing in Singapore. So the Pay Now UPI linkage is truly a unique solution to enable them to transfer funds in real time and at low cost. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to invite Prime Minister Lee Sian Long to address us. PM Lee, please. Honourable Sri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, RBI Governor, Mr. Shakti Kanta Das, MAS Managing Director, Mr. Ravi Menon, distinguished guests. I'm very happy to join you virtually for the launch of the real-time retail payment systems linkage between Singapore's Pay Now and India's UPI, the Unified Payments Interface. The idea of linking Pay Now and UPI was first conceived in 2018 when PM Modi visited Singapore. Since then, our two central banks have been working on this in earnest. And digital connectivity was also a key topic discussed at the inaugural India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable which was held in New Delhi last September. So I'm very glad that the Pay Now UPI linkage has now become a reality. Cross-border retail payments and remittances within Singapore and India amount to over US$1 billion annually. And over the years, we've progressively enhanced our cross-border payment connectivity. In 2018, Singapore's NETs worked with India's NPCI International Payments Limited to allow card and QR code payments between our two countries. And today, we are taking retail payments connectivity another step forward. The Pay Now UPI linkage will offer cheaper, faster and safer cross-border retail payments and remittances for businesses and individuals alike, directly between bank accounts or e-wallets. It's convenience at your fingertips, paying using just your mobile phone number, your UPI identity, or your virtual payment address, the VPA. The Pay Now UPI linkage is India's first cross-border real-time payment systems linkage and Singapore's second. It's also the world's first such linkage to feature cloud-based infrastructure and participation by non-bank financial institutions. As we progressively add more users and use cases, the Pay Now UPI linkage will grow in utility and contribute more to facilitating our trade and our people-to-people links. So my warmest congratulations to MES and RBI, as well as the many different stakeholders, the payment system operators, the payment scheme owners, bankers' associations, the financial institutions from both countries who have helped realise the Pay Now UPI linkage. I hope the strong partnership between Singapore and India will continue to spawn innovative technology solutions and create more cross-border opportunities for our digital economies. Thank you. Thank you very much, Prime Minister Lee. Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially launched the Pay Now UPI linkage real-time payment systems linkage between Singapore and India. How about a big round of applause for this massive feat? Thank you. On behalf of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Reserve Bank of India, we would like to thank both our Prime Ministers for being here with us today on this momentous occasion. Thank you very much, Prime Ministers. Thank you.