German minister "fascinated" after first-hand experience of India’s UPI payment model
Aug 20, 2023
New Delhi [India], August 20 : German Embassy in India on Sunday hailed India's digital infrastructure, calling it one of the country's success stories. The high praise for India's digital payment model came after Germany's Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, Volker Wissing, used UPI to make a payment in India and was "very fascinated" by the experience.
In the pictures and video posted by Germany Embassy in India on X, Wissing can be seen using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to make a payment to a vegetable seller. 
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, German Embassy in India stated, "One of India’s success story is digital infrastructure. UPI enables everybody to make transactions in seconds. Millions of Indians use it. Federal Minister for Digital and Transport @Wissing was able to experience the simplicity of UPI payments first hand and is very fascinated!"
On August 19, Wissing attended the G20 Digital Ministers Meeting in Bengaluru. On August 18, Wissing arrived in Bengaluru to participate in G20 Digital Ministers Meeting.
In a post on X, German Embassy in India stated, "G20 Digital Ministers meeting in Bangalore is about to start. Minister @Wissing&our great host Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw have an insightful discussion on deepening Indo-German cooperation in IT and especially AI through our Digital Dialogue."
Notably, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is India’s mobile-based fast payment system, which facilitates customers to make round-the-clock payments instantly, using a Virtual Payment Address (VPA) created by the customer.
So far, Sri Lanka, France, UAE, and Singapore have partnered with India on emerging fintech and payment solutions. Earlier in July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India and France have agreed to use Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment mechanism.
Addressing the Indian community in Paris during his recent France visit, PM Modi said, "Be it India's UPI or other digital platforms, they have brought a huge social transformation in the country and I am happy that India and France are also working together in direction. India and France have agreed to use UPI in France. I will leave after the agreement. However, it is your job to move forward. Friends, in the coming days its beginning will be made from Eiffel Tower which means that Indian tourists will now be able to make payments in Rupees, through UPI, at Eiffel Tower."
