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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday described the launch of the UPI-Pay Now link as a gift for the citizens of both India and Singapore.

Expressing his views after witnessing the launch of cross-border linkage between India and Singapore using their respective fast payment systems, namely Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow, along with his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong, Modi said: "After today, people in Singapore and India will be able to transfer money from their mobile phones in the same way as they do inside their respective countries. This will help the people of both countries to transfer funds from their mobiles instantly, at a low cost."

The facility was launched through token transactions by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das and managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ravi Menon, using the UPI-PayNow linkage.

"With this facility, a cheap and real-time option of remittance transfer between the two countries will be possible. This will especially benefit our overseas brothers and sisters, professionals, students and their families," Modi further said.

He added: "The good thing is that UPI's partnership with different countries is also increasing. Singapore is the first country with which person to person payment facility has been launched today."