Govt to decide on cashless UPI for foreign pilgrims at Simhasth
Efforts have already begun to enable foreign pilgrims to attend Simhasth Mahakumbh 2028 in a ‘cashless’ manner. Foreign pilgrims can go cashless at the Simhasth Mahakumbh only if the ‘UPI KYC’ and visitor wallet facility are made available to them. Towards this end, FoMP submitted a memorandum through Kartik Pande, Deputy High Commissioner of India in London, United Kingdom, and the High Commission of India has now taken up this memorandum for processing. It is now for the Government of India to act on it.
Speaking to MPPOST, Rohit Dixit, Founder of FoMP, said that through the efforts of MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and the State Government, Simhasth will bring a large number of NRI, OCI, and foreign passport-holding pilgrims to Ujjain, including senior citizens, multi-generational families, and first-time visitors to India.
The memorandum requests a proposed two-stage onboarding process.
UK, before departure. The participating RBI-authorized issuer, either directly or through an appropriately regulated service provider, completes passport and visa checks, OCI verification, applicant verification and liveness checks, customer due diligence, sanctions/AML and fraud screening, and mobile and email verification. The issuer records its decision and places the wallet in a "verified pending" status. App setup, payment education, and any permitted funding preparation can also be completed before travel.
India, after arrival. Following electronic or other reliable confirmation of the pilgrim’s entry status, the issuer immediately activates the wallet. There should be no repeat physical KYC, agent appointments, or separate verification queues at the airport.
Pilot operational features. Eligibility is focused on a representative group of UK-resident pilgrims arriving without access to Indian banking, including foreign-passport family members and OCI cardholders without NRE or NRO accounts. Wallet funding would be via eligible international debit or credit cards, with all exchange rates, loading fees, refunds, and other charges clearly disclosed before confirmation. Usage would be limited to person-to-merchant (P2M) payments at UPI QR-enabled merchants, subject to issuer controls, transaction monitoring, and applicable RBI and NPCI requirements. The memorandum also proposes evaluating an enhanced "Fully Verified Simhastha Pilgrim" limit of up to Rs 1 lac compared with the current pilot limit of Rs 50,000 - entirely subject to RBI risk assessment and prescribed safeguards. Governance and safeguards. FoMP UK will act only as a coordinator and facilitator alongside the High Commission. It will not carry out any regulated KYC, onboard customers, issue wallets, hold or move customer funds, or take on issuer liability. Customer due diligence, screening, risk decisions, records, wallet issuance, security, disputes, and compliance will remain entirely with the RBI-authorized issuer and its approved partners. At no cost and without performing any regulated function, FoMP UK stands ready to contribute - as a representative pilot group of UK-based pilgrims - community venues in the United Kingdom for verification camps organized or supported by the High Commission, a register of interested pilgrims to assist capacity planning, outreach, mobilization, scheduling, and translation across the UK diaspora community, trained volunteers to assist elderly and less digitally confident applicants, and a structured response to any consumer difficulties encountered during the pilot’s operation. The next step is a request to the High Commission for support for (i) a time-bound feasibility pilot, and (ii) an inter-agency roundtable involving the High Commission, Madhya Pradesh and Simhasth authorities, the Reserve Bank of India, NPCI, NPCI International, relevant ministries, and authorised issuers. The roundtable could settle the verification pathway, entry-confirmation mechanism, limits, consumer protection, data handling, and success metrics.
This is not a request to create a new payment system, nor to relax KYC. It is a request to move actual verification to the first stage, preserve regulated accountability, and operationalise an existing visitor-payment model at the scale and speed that Simhasth will require. A successful UK pilot would allow pilgrims to arrive payment-ready, ease pressure on airports and helpdesks, and give India, through its missions, a responsible, repeatable model for extending UPI One World ahead of Simhasth and future major events.
