India’s largest retail chain Reliance Retail will soon accept retail payments in Indian Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) e-Rupee, becoming the first largest Indian firm to do so.
According to an Economic Times report, Reliance Retail partnered with ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and fintech firm Innoviti Technologies to launch in-store support for the digital rupee.
Reliance Retail will shortly begin accepting retail payments using Digital Rupee at all 17,000 of its locations nationwide in 7000 cities. The first in-store acceptance was introduced by Reliance Retail at the gourmet store line Freshpik in Mumbai.
V Subramaniam, Director of Reliance Retail, stated “This historic initiative of pioneering the digital currency acceptance at our stores is in line with the company’s strategic vision of offering the power of choice to Indian consumers.”
This solution was created utilizing technology by Innoviti Technologies, and it interfaces with the cashier billing system. If the customer chooses to accept it after billing, a dynamic QR code for Digital Rupee acceptance will be displayed to them.
Customers can easily authorize payment through the e-Rupee by scanning the QR code on the Digital Rupee app terminal, powered by ICICI Bank or Kotak Mahindra Bank, and entering the passcode. The consumer will immediately be informed of the payment.
Kotak Mahindra Bank President and Chief Digital Officer called the move by Reliance Retail a “game changer”, while ICICI Bank Head of Digital Channels & Partnerships, Bijith Bhaskar noted it as a “historic milestone”.
Recently, Indian billionaire businessman Anand Mahindra used the newly launched e-rupee to buy fruits from a nearby vendor. Anand Mahindra stated that he learned about the e-rupee at the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) board meeting.
