Last week, the Singaporean and Indian central banks unveiled a brand new system for cross-border money transfers that, in New Delhi at the least, was celebrated as one thing far more: step one towards establishing a wholly new world funds system geared to the wants of the growing world. India’s Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, tied up with PayNow — run by a consortium of Singaporean banks — to offer what Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong described as “cross-border, real-time system linkage” with “cloud-based infrastructure.”

Indian coverage makers consider that the UPI and allied components of what it calls “digital public infrastructure” are considered one of their greatest current improvements. The UPI serves as a platform that banks, non-banking monetary firms, and fintech apps can all use on an equal footing. While the Reserve Bank of India primarily runs it alongside a consortium of banks, the state has an enormous say in the way it operates.