The Centre and central bank are in talks with Ant International about allowing Alipay+ to be linked with India's instant payments system for cross-border transactions, according to two government sources.

The move would help make payments easier for Indian tourists as they would be able to use India's Unified Payments Interface with merchants in foreign countries who have signed up with Alipay+.

The sources declined to be identified as the discussions have not been made public. The finance ministry, the Reserve Bank of India and the National Payments Corporation of India did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Singapore-based Ant International, an overseas arm of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.