The country’s largest public sector banks State Bank of India (SBI) and IDFC First Bank have provided digital currency (e-Rupee) payment facility to their customers through UPI. Both the banks have started UPI QR code scan service regarding Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) i.e. digital currency. It has been named UPI Interoperability.
This facility will be available through ‘e-rupee by SBI’ app
SBI said in a statement on Monday that it is implementing UPI interoperability for its customers. Through this facility, customers will be able to pay with digital currency using UPI QR code. According to SBI, with this step the bank aims to provide this unprecedented convenience and accessibility to its customers. The bank said that this facility through the ‘e-Rupee by SBI’ app will enable SBI CBDC users to easily scan the UPI QR code of any merchant for faster and secure transactions.
ease of payment
IDFC First Bank said in a statement that this is part of the Reserve Bank’s CBDC initiative for retail users. In such a situation, this new facility will make payment approval easier for merchants. They will be able to easily accept payments made in digital rupees. The statement further said that payments can be made easily using digital rupee only through the existing UPI QR code of the merchants.
HDFC Bank has started this facility first.
HDFC Bank was the first bank in India to provide interoperable QR codes for its merchants and customers. After this, Canara Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Yes Bank have also started this facility for their customers. Now the number of banks providing such facility has increased to eight.
Use of digital rupee will increase
QR code interoperability facilitates faster transactions between customers and merchants. Shops will be able to display only one QR code while accepting payments through UPI or digital wallet. This will make it easier to use digital rupee in daily transactions.
Know the central bank digital currency
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues Digital Rupee or E-Rupee as legal tender. It is the digital form of paper currency. Its value is also equal to the currency. It can be kept in the mobile wallet. E-Rupee enables speedy transactions with security in digital mode. It can be used to transact or hold value digitally in the same way as real cash notes.
Last year RBI started CBDC
The central bank launched the first pilot of the digital rupee (CBDC) in the wholesale segment on October 31, 2022. Nine banks were included as participants in this. These include State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB), Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC. A month later, RBI also started a pilot project for the retail sector. The retail digital rupee (e-Rupee or e₹) can be used for day-to-day transactions. Eight banks are participating in the retail sector pilot project. They are SBI, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, BOB, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.