Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for greater global expansion of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), highlighting India’s digital payments infrastructure and its potential to connect people and businesses across borders.

Speaking at the Fintech Fest, PM Modi emphasised the role of technology and financial innovation in transforming India’s payments ecosystem. He said India’s experience with digital payments offers an opportunity to take the country’s homegrown payment infrastructure to a wider international audience.

PM Modi highlights India’s digital payments journey

The Prime Minister pointed to the rapid growth of digital payments in India and the way UPI has become an important part of everyday transactions.

He stressed that India’s fintech ecosystem has demonstrated how technology can make financial services more accessible and convenient for people.

UPI has emerged as one of India’s key digital public infrastructure platforms, allowing users to make instant bank-to-bank payments through participating applications.

Push for wider international adoption of UPI

PM Modi also underlined the importance of taking India’s digital payment capabilities beyond the domestic market.

The push for wider UPI adoption comes as India has been working to establish digital payment linkages with other countries, enabling easier cross-border transactions.

Such international expansion can support Indian travellers, businesses and consumers by making digital payments more convenient in participating countries.

India’s fintech ecosystem in focus

The Prime Minister’s remarks came as the fintech sector continues to play a major role in India’s digital transformation.

India’s experience with UPI has attracted international attention because of the scale at which real-time digital payments are being used.

At the event, the broader fintech ecosystem and the potential of technology to improve access to financial services were also central to discussions.

Why UPI’s global expansion matters

A wider international footprint for UPI could strengthen India’s digital payments ecosystem while making cross-border transactions simpler in countries where UPI-linked systems are available.

The expansion also reflects India’s broader effort to promote its digital public infrastructure and fintech capabilities internationally.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took an apparent swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing a gathering of young people in Gujarat’s Vadodara.

Speaking at the “NaMo for Viksit Bharat” event, PM Modi cautioned the youth against what he described as misleading claims and referred to “Jhooth Ki Goonj” in an apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi and the Congress’s “Chhatron Ki Goonj” campaign.

“People will try to mislead you through Jhooth Ki Goonj, but youth will stand with truth,” PM Modi said.

The Prime Minister was in Vadodara to announce new projects and inaugurate completed infrastructure works. He said development projects worth more than Rs. 35,000 crore would provide further momentum to the journey towards a Viksit Bharat.

PM Modi’s dig at Rahul Gandhi

PM Modi’s remarks came in the context of the political debate surrounding the Congress’s “Chhatron Ki Goonj” campaign.

He appeared to refer to a fact-check of Rahul Gandhi’s speeches by a satirical political website. According to the report, the website examined 40 statements made by Rahul Gandhi at four events associated with the campaign and described 29 as “false” and 11 as “misleading”.

The Prime Minister urged young people to distinguish between what he portrayed as misleading political claims and what he called the truth.

Double-stack freight train highlighted

During his address, PM Modi also highlighted the operation of a double-stack container freight train between JNPT in Mumbai and Vadodara.

He said the single journey carried a volume of cargo equivalent to more than 250 trucks. He also used the example to take a humorous swipe at critics concerned about the impact of infrastructure changes on truck operators.

PM Modi also referred to the Dedicated Freight Corridor and said that before 2014, not even 1 km of the project had been completed during the previous government’s seven to eight years.

Free online coaching initiative for students

The Prime Minister also spoke about the government’s move towards providing free online coaching by top teachers to students preparing for competitive examinations.

He said the initiative was aimed at reducing the financial burden of coaching on poor and middle-class families.

PM Modi said education is changing alongside the wider transformation in the world, with skills becoming increasingly important alongside formal degrees.

The Vadodara event combined announcements on infrastructure and education with political remarks directed at the Opposition.

The United States has warned that employment-based first-preference (EB-1) green cards for Indian professionals could become unavailable before September 30, as high demand puts pressure on the number of immigrant visas available under the category.

The warning was issued in the September Visa Bulletin from the US State Department. It comes as Indian applicants already face significant backlogs across several employment-based green card categories.

Why EB-1 availability is under pressure

EB-1 is an employment-based green card category for priority workers. It covers people with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and certain multinational executives and managers.

The State Department said that high demand and the use of visa numbers by applicants chargeable to India could result in the EB-1 category becoming unavailable in the coming weeks if India’s pro-rated limit is reached before the US fiscal year ends on September 30.

The department also said the situation would continue to be monitored and that necessary adjustments could be made.

This does not mean EB-1 green cards for Indians have already been stopped. The warning concerns the possibility that the available visa numbers could be exhausted before the end of the fiscal year.

EB-1 India cutoff date remains October 15, 2022

For September, the EB-1 final action date for India is October 15, 2022.

In general, an applicant’s priority date needs to be earlier than the applicable final action date for a visa number to be available for final action, subject to other eligibility requirements.

The September Visa Bulletin’s dates-for-filing chart provides a later date of December 1, 2023, for EB-1 India. However, applicants seeking adjustment of status in the US must check which chart the US Citizenship and Immigration Services has authorised for that particular month.

Other green card categories also face constraints

The pressure on Indian employment-based applicants extends beyond EB-1.

India’s EB-2 category is listed as “U”, meaning unavailable, in the September Visa Bulletin. The State Department uses this designation when visa numbers are not authorised for issuance in that category during the relevant period.

The EB-3 category also has a substantial backlog, with its final action date stretching back to January 1, 2014 for India.

Meanwhile, India’s unreserved EB-5 category is also unavailable for final action in September. The set-aside EB-5 categories for rural projects, high-unemployment areas and infrastructure remain current for all countries.

What the warning means for Indian applicants

The immediate concern is the availability of visa numbers before September 30, which marks the end of the US fiscal year.

If the pro-rated EB-1 allocation for India is exhausted before that date, the category could become unavailable for the remainder of the fiscal year. The State Department has indicated that it will continue monitoring demand and visa-number usage.

The situation is particularly significant for Indian professionals because employment-based green card applicants from India are already dealing with long queues and restrictions in multiple categories.