India is making strides in several areas and has received recognition from all around the world due to its progress towards becoming a developed country. Today India is heading towards progress faster than ever. Indian foreign minister, S Jaishankar, renowned for his exceptional diplomacy in foreign affairs was in the limelight as he garnered praise from the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock at the Annual Ambassadors’ Conference held recently in Berlin.

The German foreign minister was impressed by Unified Payments Interface (UPI), given how quickly any payment is made. During the Annual Ambassadors' Conference in Berlin, Baerbock spoke with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar about her observations, recalling her time in India as Ambassador two years ago when she noted people used UPI to purchase groceries.

Recalling her time in India, she added, “We met two years ago for the first time when I was in Delhi. I used your Metro and experienced your modernisation strategy kilometre by kilometre”. She further added, “I also saw people buying groceries and was very impressed by your Unified Payments Interface, a digital instant payment system. I thought this would be impossible in Germany”.

“...but we also watched that closely, and we did a big jump compared to our speed here in Germany. Also, with regard to digitalisation, I saw not only that it's possible to pay on the street with digital payments but also I saw unfortunately in our Embassy, in our consulate that we are carrying application forms for Visa still in boxes”.

Baerbock seemed to have taken a lesson from Indian-originated UPI as she further states, “So I thought, ‘Okay, I cannot change the payment on the street, but I can definitely change the digitalisation in our ministry”.

Last year, German Minister for Transport Volker Wissing was captured in a viral clip shared by the German Embassy in India on X, in which he spoke with admiration for the UPI system. In that video, Wissing could be seen buying vegetables from a street vendor in Bengaluru and making a purchase through the UPI system.

The post went viral quickly on X, saying, “One of India's success stories is its digital infrastructure. UPI enables seamless transactions within seconds, with millions of Indians using it. Federal Minister for Digital and Transport @Wissing experienced the simplicity of UPI payments firsthand and was highly impressed!

Image Source: ToI