🇮🇳🇱🇰 Paytm Urges SL to Build "World's Most Seamless Travel Corridor" via Fintech

• Paytm CEO for Travel, Vikash Jalan, urged Sri Lanka to position itself as the most frictionless overseas destination for Indian travellers, stressing that digital payments are now fundamental to tourism growth. • Core Principle: Seamless, "invisible" payments (removing currency/acceptance worry) are necessary to make destinations attractive and boost visitor satisfaction and spending. • Current Impact: Following UPI acceptance in 2024, Indian arrivals have surged: • 2024 saw 430,000 visitors, up from 300,000 in 2023. • Over 450,000 Indians welcomed in the first 10 months of 2025. • Potential: SL could attract 1 million Indian tourists annually if it becomes a fully frictionless, UPI-enabled destination (out of a projected 3 million total arrivals). • Key Action: Payment acceptance must reach micro-merchants and SMEs (homestays, guides, tuk-tuk drivers, fishermen) to enable instant digital earnings and bring them into the formal economy. • Proposal: Form a national fintech–tourism task force to address cross-border settlements and standardisation, creating a unified digital journey to make India-SL travel the most seamless in the region.