IIT Delhi in Abu Dhabi: PM Modi witnessed the signing of a momentous Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Saturday, marking the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) campus in Abu Dhabi.

PM Modi’s UAE visit was marked by key agreements including opening a new IIT Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi. The two countries also pledged to promote using local currencies (Rupee and Dirham) for cross-border transactions and to interlink payment systems. An MoU on Local Currency Settlement (LCS) System was signed between the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates enabling the use of Indian Rupee (INR) and UAE Dirham (AED) for Cross-border Transactions.

An MoU was exchanged for the establishment of a campus of IIT in Abu Dhabi between the Indian Ministry of Education, UAE’s Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT).

This is the first ever IIT to be set up in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. The MoU will facilitate the integration of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and the Instant Payments Platform (IPP) of the UAE. It will also facilitate interlinking card switches of the two countries – RuPay switch and UAESWITCH to facilitate the mutual acceptance of their domestic cards and processing of card transactions directly without relying on any other network. The MoU will facilitate the integration of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and the Instant Payments Platform (IPP) of the UAE. It will also facilitate interlinking card switches of the two countries – RuPay switch and UAESWITCH to facilitate the mutual acceptance of their domestic cards and processing of card transactions directly without relying on any other network.