South Asian central bank governors are calling for greater cooperation to build a digital payment network that fully connects the region. Meeting at the SAARCFINANCE Governors’ Symposium in Paro today, they said the region must move beyond bilateral payment arrangements toward a multilateral system. Governors said greater payment connectivity could make cross-border transactions faster, cheaper and more secure.
Participants at the two-day symposium included central bank governors and senior officials from SAARC member countries.
Finance Minister Leki Dorji attended the inaugural event.
While countries have made significant progress individually, governors agreed that most payment links in South Asia remain bilateral and that the region must now work towards a multilateral system connecting all SAARC members.
Governor Yangchen Tshogyel said Bhutan has successfully integrated its payment system with India’s Unified Payment Interface, allowing Indian visitors to make QR code payments in Bhutan. She added Bhutan is now working on enabling Bhutanese travellers to make seamless QR payments in India and expressed interest in expanding payment connectivity with other countries in the region.
“You start with bilateral, but you cannot scale, and it takes time. If you want to scale, if you want the efficiency, ultimately it has to be a multilateral approach. We need to have those foundations in place,“ said the Governor, RMA.
India’s Deputy Governor, Rohit Jain, said the country’s payment infrastructure has been built to support interoperability. He said India sees strong potential for regional collaboration through common technical standards, harmonised regulations and interoperable payment systems that can deliver faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments.
Meanwhile, Nepal’s Governor, Professor Dr Biswo Nath Poudel, said Nepal has already launched cross-border fund transfers with India, integrated QR payments with Sri Lanka and is open to connecting its payment system with more countries. He said growing travel, trade and remittances across the region make wider payment connectivity increasingly important.
Looking ahead, governors said the focus will be on developing common payment standards, strengthening financial infrastructure and expanding cross-border payment connectivity. They said a more connected regional payment system could make trade, tourism and remittances faster, cheaper and more accessible across South Asia.
Karma Samten Wangda, Paro
Edited by Phub Gyem
