Trinidad and Tobago is set to become the first Caribbean country to implement India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), strengthening economic ties and showcasing India’s digital infrastructure export ambitions.
Trinidad and Tobago is moving to become the first Caribbean country to adopt India’s Unified Payments Interface, a step that highlights how digital finance has become part of a wider diplomatic and economic relationship between the two countries. Chandradath Singh, the country’s high commissioner to India, said the plan is being advanced through cooperation between National Payments Corporation of India International Payments Limited and Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Digital Transformation.
The initiative is intended to create a faster, more efficient payments system, giving consumers and businesses access to real-time digital transactions. According to reporting by several Indian and regional publications, the deal is being framed as part of India’s growing push to export its digital public infrastructure, with UPI increasingly presented as a model for international partnerships in payments technology.
Singh made the remarks at a Republic Day event in New Delhi marking 50 years since Trinidad and Tobago became a republic. He said the two countries had also deepened ties through Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit, which resulted in six memoranda of understanding and agreements spanning trade, investment, technical cooperation and people-to-people links. India and Trinidad and Tobago are also marking 64 years of diplomatic relations, while the countries share a longer historical connection rooted in the arrival of Indian indentured labourers in Trinidad 181 years ago.
The high commissioner also pointed to Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector as the backbone of its economy, even as the government looks to diversify into manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, biotechnology and creative industries. Singh said the country has been involved in the oil business since 1908 and remains a major natural gas producer, with output of about 3.3 billion standard cubic feet per day over the past five years. External trade and investment data cited by Lloyds Bank Trade indicate that energy still accounts for more than one-third of gross domestic product and more than two-thirds of exports, underscoring both the sector’s importance and the pressure to broaden the economic base.
He also referred to Trinidad and Tobago’s election to a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for 2027-28, saying India had supported the bid. Singh said the government intends to use that platform to focus on illicit arms trafficking, the trafficking of women and children, and the security implications of artificial intelligence. Beyond diplomacy, he highlighted cooperation in healthcare and education, including recognition of Indian pharmacopoeia standards, plans for an Indian chair on Ayurveda at the University of the West Indies, laptop support for schoolchildren and medical aid through the Jaipur Foot programme.
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