Maldives plans to introduce India's RuPay service shortly "to bolster the Maldivian Rufiyaa." Minister of Economic Development and commerce Mohamed Saeed discussed the forthcoming introduction of India's RuPay while also revealing that India and China have agreed to utilize local currency in bilateral commerce. "The upcoming launch of India's RuPay service is anticipated to further bolster the Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR)," Saeed told state-run PSM News.
However, no launch date has been announced. He also stated that "addressing the dollar issue and reinforcing the MVR are top priorities for the current administration."
A joint statement from India and the Maldives stated that "the two leaders welcomed the ongoing work to operationalize the usage of RuPay Cards in Maldives and agreed to consider further measures to boost bilateral travel and tourism and economic inter-linkages" during the official visit of the then-President of the Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, to India in August 2022.
The Maldives reported on May 22 that China and India have decided to work together to try and have their countries' currencies used to pay for imports rather than US dollars. As stated by the minister who stated in April that Maldives was talking to India and China about payments for imports in rufiyaa, the Maldives imports items worth $780 million from India and $720 million from China.
In order to facilitate payments for imports from China, for instance, the shipping firm can bring the invoice and settle the payment by converting Maldivian Rufiyaa to their local currency through the banks rather than using US dollars, according to Saeed.
India's first international card payment network, RuPay was created by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and is widely accepted at ATMs, point-of-sale terminals, and online retailers all throughout the nation.
In recent years, NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international branch of NPCI, has worked with several banks and payment providers from other countries to accept UPI and RuPay in one way or another.
