Narendra Modi has arrived at the Emirates Palace ahead of talks with UAE rulers on Saturday - when he is also expected to receive the country's highest civilian honour.

The Indian Prime Minister was welcomed by Navdeep Suri, India’s ambassador to the country, this morning.

Mr Modi is set to launch the UAE roll-out of the RuPay card – an Indian card payment scheme similar to Visa and Mastercard – at Emirates Palace and release a stamp to commemorate the 150th birthday of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

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The new card will work at 100,000 terminals in the UAE, Mr Suri revealed in a speech this morning.

“We have assurance from Network International that Rupay Card will become accessible and available throughout the country from 100,000 terminals with immediate effect,” Mr Suri said.

“We also have representatives of First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD and Bank of Baroda.

“All three of these banks have said they will start issuing Rupay cards in the UAE for people living here.”

The credit and debit cards, whose name blends the words ‘rupee’ and ‘payment’, were launched in India four years ago. Since then, 500 million people in the country have subscribed to it, and more than half of India’s one billion debit and credit cards now go through the RuPay system.

RuPay is little known outside India, but its surge within the country has challenged the dominance of US giants such as Visa and MasterCard and it is now expanding overseas, with Singapore and Bhutan among the other places to adopt it.Mr Modi also took time to pay tribute to Arun Jaitley, a former Indian finance minister, who passed away on Saturday. Mr Jaitley, who was 66, held the finance portfolio in Modi's Hindu nationalist-led government from 2014 through this year but chose not to run for reelection in May's polls because of poor health.

On Twitter, Mr Modi described Mr Jaitley as a “political giant” and “towering intellectual”.Mr Modi arrived into Abu Dhabi on Friday evening. After the meeting with members of the Indian business community, Mr Modi is due to hold talks with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

He is also expected to receive the Order of Zayed, the UAE’s highest civilian honour on Saturday. It was announced that April that the accolade have been conferred on Mr Modi for his work in developing ties between the two countries.

Mr Modi has also indicated that UAE will play an important role alongside India to achieve his ambitious dream of achieving a US$5 trillion economy."We consider the UAE as a valuable partner in realising the objective to reach US$5 trillion economy through a mutually beneficial partnership," Mr Modi told Wam in an interview published on his arrival in the country.

Ahead of the visit, Mr Modi paid tribute to Sheikh Mohamed, citing their relationship as a driving force between UAE-India relations.

"The Crown Prince and I regard each other as brothers," he said on Friday.

When asked about receiving the Order of Zayed, the Indian prime minister said it was a testimony to the two nations growing partnership.

"It is also an honour for the entire Indian nation of 1.3 billion people," he told the Khaleej Times.

Mr Modi will leave the UAE for Bahrain on Saturday evening.