India and the Maldives have strengthened their digital financial partnership with the launch of the Favara-UPI cross-border payment corridor, enabling individuals in the Maldives to transfer funds instantly to UPI-enabled bank accounts in India through their mobile banking applications.
The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) announced the successful operationalisation of the integration between the Maldives Instant Payment System, Favara, and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on July 30, marking a significant milestone in cross-border digital payments and bilateral economic cooperation.
With the launch of the service, users in the Maldives can initiate real-time person-to-person (P2P) transfers in Maldivian Rufiyaa (MVR), with the funds being credited directly in Indian Rupees (INR) to beneficiaries’ UPI-enabled bank accounts in India.
The service has been introduced in its first phase through two participating financial institutions—Bank of Maldives Plc and Maldives Islamic Bank Plc. Customers of these banks can send money to India using their mobile banking applications via the Favara payment system.
Initially, the facility will support family-maintenance remittances under both foreign inward and outward remittance categories, as well as gift-related remittances permitted under foreign outward remittance regulations.
The cross-border payment corridor has been developed through collaboration between the Maldives Monetary Authority, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), participating financial institutions and other stakeholders from both countries.
The integration follows an agreement signed between NIPL and the MMA in July 2025. According to the announcement, the project achieved full operational readiness after an accelerated 10-day process covering testing, certification, onboarding and live validation.
The Finance Ministry said the collaboration will be expanded in subsequent phases to include additional cross-border payment services such as QR code-based merchant payments and other digital payment solutions, further strengthening financial and economic ties between India and the Maldives.
The development also expands the global reach of India’s UPI ecosystem. UPI is currently accepted in nine countries – Cambodia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Qatar and Sri Lanka – allowing Indian travellers to make seamless digital payments overseas.
