The partnership between the two entities will facilitate e-rupee payments across several retail outlets in Mumbai and Bengaluru via a dynamic QR system built within Pine Labs’ smart Android PoS terminals. Pine Labs officials cited by siliconindia.com expressed their excitement to partner with ICICI Bank in order to support CBDC as a payment option under this pilot run by the Reserve Bank of India.
ICICI Bank officials cited by the same source talked about the digital rupee and emphasised its potential to improve the operational efficiency of merchants with Pine Labs PoS terminals.
RBI's CBDC pilot for both person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) digital rupee transactions is live in partnership with banks such as the State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and HDFC Bank. Siliconindia.com reports that the controlled retail CBDC pilot will expand to more banks, users and locations, and it will receive more applications in the future.
The digital rupee is expected to deliver several key benefits for the Indian financial system, namely a reduction in operational costs that goes into the management of physical cash, as well as a boost in financial inclusion, and support for more resilience and efficiency in payment transactions.
According to timesofindia.indiatimes.com, the digital rupee is recognised as a sovereign currency, and transactions can be made through the digital wallets of various banks. Furthermore, the CBDC itself can be stored on digital devices including mobile phones.
One particularly important benefit of the e-rupee is that users don’t have to create a bank account in order to transact using this digital currency. This means that the fintech industry will benefit from faster transactions being possible without the need for interbank settlements. Payments made via the digital rupee wallet should also result in lower settlement and transaction fees. Since there are no intermediaries involved, real-time payments can be transferred to anyone, anywhere.
When it comes to minimising fraud, the e-rupee is based on blockchain technology, which makes it more resilient against cyber breaches and threats. In addition, the Central Bank regulates and issues digital rupees and has access to all transactions taking place within the authorised networks, which makes it easier for authorities to monitor and track suspicious activities.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now