Tel Aviv Working on Joint System to Allow UPI-Driven Transactions: Top Israeli Official

After signing a bilateral investment agreement with India, Israel is seeking to further strengthen economic ties, as Tel Aviv is working on a joint system to allow UPI-driven transactions, according to a top Israeli official.

In an exclusive interview to PTI Videos here, Accountant General at Israel's Ministry of Finance, Yali Rothenberg, without providing any timeline, also said the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between the two countries "can be finalised in a very short period of time".

Rothenberg is visiting India as part of a high-level delegation led by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

A key outcome of the visit has been the Bilateral Investment Agreement, which was signed in New Delhi on Monday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Israeli counterpart Smotrich, that will facilitate reciprocal investments between investors from both countries.

"This is not the end, but just the beginning. We are looking forward to promoting other agreements with India," he said.

So, Israel is looking at "promoting a financial protocol with India", and, with that protocol, "we can promote better financing for infrastructure projects in India," he said.

The accountant general said Israel has such protocols with other major countries also, in this region, adding, the biggest one is with China.

Amid the impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict since October 2023, and the wider volatility in the Middle East, Rothenberg argued that "the Middle East is changing for the better".

He said the "geopolitical risk embedded in Israel has been decreasing" and the country is not in the same kind of risk as two years ago when the war started. The impact of the war on the Israeli economy has been limited, he said.

Describing Israel's story as one of "resilience", the top official said Israel "wants Indian companies to go and participate in its (global) tenders, public tenders in Israel, to offer themselves, provided they have the right experience".

On further boosting the economic ties between India and Israel, Rothenberg spoke of an agreement that could be signed in the near future between the two sides to allow Indians to make payments in local currency using UPI, in Israel.

The agreement as led by the Bank of Israel, "could be finalised in a matter of few months, it's very short and that could create a direct link between the Israeli system and the Indian system by which you can pay using rupees," he said.

The Bank of Israel is in charge of payment system in Israel, and has MASAV payment system.

"What we are told is that it will be possible, from end of first quarter of 2026, which is paying in local currency in Israel, and receiving local currency in Israel through UPI system," he added.

And, also Israeli people will be able to do it in their local currency in India through this linked system, he said.

On the status of the India-Israel FTA negotiations, Rothenberg said, "I'm not going to go into the details, because I believe it's in the midst of a negotiation. But I trust both the Indian side and the Israeli side will do their best to finalise it. I think it can be finalised in a very short period of time." According to sources at the Israeli Embassy, the members of the delegation arrived in India in the early hours of Monday, and after their engagements in New Delhi, will travel to Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

The visit aims to promote a range of economic collaborations between the two countries.

"We have very exciting meetings with very important people, individuals, both from the government and business sectors... We are looking forward to all those meetings and to promoting our relationships," he added.