Barclays will extend Pingit, the UK bank’s domestic P2P money service, so that users can send payments to friends and family in India, using just their mobile number.

India is the largest destination for remittance payments from the UK.

Pingit users will send a payment using the mobile phone number of the intended recipient in India. There is no need for the sender to obtain swift codes, sort codes or account numbers of the recipient.

The first time recipients will receive a registration notification. Afterwards they receive an alert to confirm payment has been made.

The minimum transaction size is £25 and the maximum is £1,500. Payments can take up to 48 hours.

Neither sender not receipt need to be Barclays customers.

The bank has not revealed whether the new Pingit feature carries a fee.