Modi buys Motichur Laddoos to launch RuPay card in UAE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday bought “Motichur Laddoo” from a sweet shop in Abu Dhabi—using his RuPay card and thus rolling it out in the United Arab Emirates.

Modi, who was on a visit to Abu Dhabi, was also conferred with the “Order of Zayed”—the highest civilian award of the UAE named after the country's founding father and first president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Prime Minister bought the “laddoos” from the makeshift stall the “Chhappan Bhog” sweet shop set up at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi after an employee of the shop swiped his RuPay card on a “Point of Sale” (PoS) machine. The UAE was the third foreign country after Singapore and Bhutan where the RuPay card has been launched.

Modi also launched the RuPay card in Bahrain during a short visit to Manama later on the day.

Prime Minister arrived in Abu Dhabi late on Friday taking a break from his tour to France. He had a meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto ruler of UAE, on Saturday. He was honoured with the “Order of Zayed” by the UAE Government in recognition of his “role in promoting friendship and cooperation” between India and the Gulf nation.

“Humbled to be conferred the ‘Order of Zayed’ a short while ago. More than an individual, this award is for India’s cultural ethos and is dedicated to 130 crore Indians. I thank the UAE Government for this honour,” Modi posted on Twitter.

“Had an excellent meeting with His Highness Crown Prince @MohamedBinZayed. We spoke about multiple subjects, including ways to improve trade and people-to-people relations between India and UAE. His personal commitment to strong bilateral relations is very strong,” Prime Minister tweeted after meeting with his UAE counterpart.

The leaders of 21 business groups were present during the launch of the RuPay card and they pledged to accept it as a mode of payment and stated that the initiative would go a long way in bringing India and UAE businesses together.

The RuPay is India’s first-of-its-kind domestic debit and credit card payment network, with wide acceptance at ATMs, POS devices and e-commerce websites across India.

The UAE every year hosts close to three million tourists from India. The officials said that acceptance of RuPay card in UAE will lower the charges as tourists will save on exchange rate. The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) in association with Mercury Payments Services of the UAE has made RuPay cards acceptable at 175,000 merchant acceptance locations and 5000 ATMs and cash access locations within the Emirates.

Prime Minister and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi also released postage stamps on Mahatma Gandhi to commemorate his 150th Birth Anniversary.

Modi later travelled to Manama where he had a meeting with Bahrain's Prime Minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa. “Honoured to have met HH Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Our talks were comprehensive and included a wide range of subjects concerning India-Bahrain relations,” he tweeted later.