As a part of the Reserve Bank of India’s ongoing Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) initiative, Axis Bank on Friday announced the introduction of UPI interoperability functionality on its ‘Axis Mobile Digital Rupee App’.
With the introduction of this feature, customers will be able to use e-Rupee to pay through existing UPI QR codes of merchants. This will further allow merchants to embrace the acceptance of Digital Rupee payments on their existing QR codes, eliminating the need of mandatory on boarding.
The introduction of this ground breaking feature of Digital Rupee and UPI interoperability, is poised to drive extensive adoption of the Digital Rupee across the country. The security and speed of Digital Rupee clubbed with the expansive reach and user-friendliness of UPI will bring the best of both worlds to customers and merchants, said Rajiv Anand, Deputy Managing Director, Axis Bank.
The UPI interoperability functionality on ‘Axis Mobile Digital Rupee’ app is being rolled out to users in a phased manner starting with Android, and will be available to all Digital Rupee users in the coming days. This will continue to be available to whitelisted users in 26 pilot cities.
The app which is available for Android and iOS devices, allows the users to load Digital wallets using the linked Axis Bank Saving accounts. Users can seamlessly transfer and receive/ collect Digital rupee from other on boarded users. They can also use the Digital rupee to pay any CBDC or UPI on boarded merchant QRs, the bank added in the media filing.
Last month, country’s largest private lender, HDFC Bank launched a UPI QR code interoperable with India’s digital rupee becoming the first commercial Bank in India to complete the integration process. It has signed up over 1 lakh customers and 1,70,000 merchants in pilot programmes using the digital rupee.
Also Read: Canara Bank launches UPI Interoperable Digital Rupee mobile app
This week, state-run lender, Canara Bank had also launched a new mobile app called ‘Canara Digital Rupee’ focussed on taking India’s CBDC trials to the next crucial stage that will lead to mass adoption.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November 1, 2022, started a pilot on CDBC in the wholesale segment. It further rolled out retail testing on December 1. The RBI aims to raise the daily transaction volume of CDBC retail to 1 million by the end of 2023, as compared to 5,000-10,000 now.
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), e₹ or Digital Rupee, is a legal tender issued by the Reserve Bank of India initiative. On 1 November, 2022, the apex bank started a pilot on CDBC in the wholesale segment, and rolled out retail testing on 1 December last year.
The e₹ offers features of physical cash like trust, safety and settlement finality with atomicity (i.e. immediate settlement of transactions) in the Digital mode.
According to reports, the central bank eyes a significant gorwth in the daily transaction volume of CDBC retail to 1 million by the end of 2023, as compared to 5,000-10,000 now.
