- Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and PhonePe are joining RBI's CBDC initiative to boost e-rupee transactions and expand user access.
- RBI broadens e-rupee access to payment companies, anticipating increased transaction volumes from major fintech platforms.
- Despite privacy assurances, e-rupee adoption has been slow, with the RBI pushing for greater transaction scalability.
Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and PhonePe are looking to join India's CBDC initiative led by the RBI. Additionally, other fintech firms like Cred and Mobikwik are also seeking participation. These companies aim to facilitate transactions through the e-rupee. This initiative aims to boost transaction volumes by expanding access beyond banks to major payment platforms.
Equally, big is the involvement of these large payment systems. On Monday, a Reuters report quoted several companies working with the RBI to facilitate e-rupee transactions. There has been very low adoption since it was introduced in December 2022.
Expansion of Access to Payment Companies
Moreover, previously only banks could enable e-rupee transactions through their mobile applications. However, in April, the RBI broadened this access to include payment companies upon approval.
These firms are now working with the RBI and the NPCI to implement e-rupee access in the upcoming months. This initiative is anticipated to increase transaction volumes by widening the user base.
These companies account for over 85% of UPI digital payments, which total about 13 billion transactions per month. India’s central bank recently announced that as of June, the digital rupee had reached five million users and involved 420,000 merchants in the retail CBDC pilot. This highlights the potential of the e-rupee in supplementing cash and existing payment systems.
Challenges and Future Prospects
RBI officials highlighted the privacy characteristics of the e-rupee after its launch. They assured the public that transactions would remain anonymous to some extent. However, despite these assurances, the CBDC’s adoption has been slow.
By late June, the Reserve Bank of India reported achieving 1 million retail transactions with the e-rupee. This was only after local banks started offering incentives to clients and distributed part of their employees’ salaries using digital currency.
Consequently, the RBI had urged banks to increase transactions to at least 1 million per day by late 2023 to test the system’s scalability. However, this push has since ceased, casting doubt on the future of the digital currency initiative.
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