The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has joined the global Project Nexus initiative, aimed at facilitating instant cross-border payments.
According to the Bank of International Settlements, the organization overseeing Project Nexus, the initiative seeks to standardize the connections between Instant Payment Systems (IPS). Rather than requiring payment system operators to create custom connections for each jurisdiction, they can establish a single connection through the Nexus platform. This approach has the potential to greatly enhance the growth of instant cross-border payments.
After a year of testing, Project Nexus was officially launched in March 2023, connecting Bank Indonesia, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and the Bank of Thailand.
Recently, the RBI announced its collaboration with other nations to link India’s Fast Payments System (FPS) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with their respective FPSs for cross-border Person-to-Person and Person-to-Merchant payments.
The initial phase of Project Nexus successfully connected central banks from Malaysia, Singapore, and Italy in 2023. As more countries participate in the initiative, the platform is anticipated to be fully operational and live by 2026.