Setting up UPI payments
 

I am an OCI holder with an NRE account with SBI. I am trying to set myself up for UPI cashless payments, but the instructions are non-existent even though OCI holders from select countries can use their international mobile numbers. I have a US phone number.

PhonePe doesn't seem to like SBI as it doesnt appear in the list of banks.
I stumbled upon the BHIM SBI Pay app, but that throws an SB001 Technical error during the first step.

Has anyone succeeded in doing so, and would you mind sharing the detailed steps to do so? Thanks in advance

My HDFC bank app also throws an error when I want to activate the UPI section with the registered phone number.

Have you tried using CRED?

I have a client who uses that for UPI payments & he has an international phone number.

I have never heard of CRED. I will check it out. Thanks for the tip.

Sadly, Cred is not available in the US App Store .

To use UPI, the bank operating the account needs to support OTPs to non Indian numbers for UPI transactions. AFAICT, SBI only supports OTP to international numbers for their bank transactions (that too with the occasional unexplained outages) and not for UPI.

Anecdotally, I’ve heard ICICI does support that. I’m toying with idea of exiting SBI for ICICI for this (and other) reason

I have managed to set up and use UPI using my ICICI app .
I have a NRE/ NRO account with OCI with ICICI bank and used a UK mobile number

Also use your own bank app ( in my case ICiCI ) to set up UPI and pay with the banks app .. ICICI app has a UPI option now .

Remember to only set up UPI with NRO account and not with NRE account ..

As far as I know for the set up process you have to have the SIM of the overseas mobile number registered with icici inside the phone for this to work . I don't know if this is required for ongoing use..

Set this up in late March/ early April and used it with9ut any issues in July and August on my india visits.

Axis bank also supports OTP to overseas numbers ..The process of phone numner change is also easier with axis bank ( can do this online ) unlike icici ( have to visit branch )
I have not set up upi on axis yet but will do it soon.. Icici is working fine .

hdfc Supports otp to my German number but no UPI.

Might be worth setting up Axis or icici . As you probably are aware you can have as many accounts as you want ..

Axis used to allow kyc using self certified documents ..I did mine pre covid using self certified ones and they arranged for DHL to pick it up.. Tried to set up an account for the missus last week but they need the documents notarized .

So maybe we will set it up on our next visit to India.
Their UPI system seems okay as per a friend

The only glitch I've had with axis is that the NRO account debit card did not support contactless transactions ( called WiFi in India) even though it had a contactless symbol .. I have to use the PIN every time

I thought it was an issue with my card but my relationship manager told me that it was an issue with the system ..This was around2 years ago .. I dont know if they have fixed it now

The axis bank app also requires you to have the SIM of your registered phone number inside the phone if you want to sue the app .. And they are also fussy about it being in sim slot 1..

I'm ok with no UPI when in India. No need for one more account. 🤪

I'm managing without UPI on my trips to India but I must say it's getting increasingly annoying not to be able to use it. Cash works fine at the very low end stores for minor purchases, and credit cards work fine at the upper end for hotels (esp. those catering to foreign visitors) and good restaurants, etc. It's the "in between" zone that's becoming increasingly difficult to navigate with shopkeepers who are reluctant to accept credit cards (especially foreign cards) because of the processing fees they have to pay, and where the amounts are a bit more than can be handled without carrying loads of cash around. :( It's awkward, to say the least, to have to resort to doing bank transfers, painful to ask for bank account numbers, etc. while everyone around you scratches their head and says, oh, why don't you just use UPI...

I resisted for many years but finally caved in. Life is much more easy now.. I recommend setting one if you are eligible

saved me a lot of hassle on my last trip . Used it around 10 times ( small vendors .. no card payments possible but could use UPI )

The icici bank app (imobile pay app) which I use for my NRE/NRO account seems to work fine with my NRO account and a UK mobile number set up for UPI . So I did not even have to install another app etc..

Good luck trying to set up UPI as a foreigner not of Indian origin!
 

I'm finishing up a 2 week trip to India. I tried my best to get things working using a platform called Cheq. Before I left, I installed their app and paid 799.20 INR via credit card, discounted from 999. I submitted a bunch of information including a photo of my passport info page. An OTP was sent via WhatsApp, which was successful. I wasn't able to upload my visa since I was entering India with an e-visa for the first time, and I didn't have my actual visa yet.

Once I got to India, I needed to have my documents verified by visiting a TransCorp branch—it seems to be a foreign exchange and remittance company. Their Connaught Place location was closed for Shivratri, so I schlepped to another branch in Nehru Place from the Le Meridien. It was kind of a pain finding it since the Google Maps address is correct, but the pin is in a completely different place on the map. I finally found the office on the 4th floor of a building in the computer market. I was hopeful because other westerners had written helpful directions in their Google reviews, so I wasn't the only foreigner who was trying to do this!

They took my passport and I did whatever they needed to do. I got some in--app notifications saying that verification was done while they were working in the back office. Easy enough?

But then...nothing. The app got stuck in a "your profile is being reviewed" state. I sent Cheq a message through WhatsApp, and they responded that I needed to wait 24-48 hours, because apparently after verification comes a review? It was unclear, because the app crashed when I clicked the "learn more" button. Uh oh.

At this point I also noticed that the app had a new, mysterious "verify your SIM" step. It incorrectly sends an SMS to an Indian number from my US SIM...but without the +91 prefix, thus making it impossible to do whatever they intended to do. Things weren't looking good.

This week rolls around and the app is still in the same state. At this point, I was getting along fine with cash and kind of forgot about UPI, but let me tell you it is really hard to get change, especially for 500 notes. Nobody wants 500 notes. I sent Cheq another message telling them their process/app is broken, and asked for a refund with a threat to chargeback the 799.20. They immediately initiated the refund and we'll see if it goes through.

So, that's my data point as someone who loves India and has been visiting for 20 years. I tried my best but failed. Maybe next time!

Sorry to hear of your experience, fast passenger! I have been skeptical of the Cheq offering and similar ones because of this business of in-person verification. Who wants to waste half a day or more out of a week's vacation in India sitting in some back office going over documentation - not to mention the 24-48 hour wait often required or implied.

That said, there is a new entrant in this area, "Mony" (havemony.com) - their operating model is similar to Cheq, however they claim the KYC can be done online, without an in-person visit to any office. If true, it could be a lot easier. (Of course, assuming problems such as the above don't crop up.) Has anyone tried them?

With all of these apps, I guess the other concern would be how easy it is to top up money in the prepaid account while on the go, and how easy it is to get any left-over money back when returning. As it's not easy to guess and load up just the right amount of money you may need for your trip at the start, especially if anything unspent is going to be lost to red tape and bureaucratic foot-dragging.

Getting change for 500 rupee notes is difficult. Two places which always give me change: Mother Dairy milk stands, and Delhi Metro ticket counters.