Tech Giants Join e-Rupee Pilot: Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Others Embrace India’s Digital Currency
The post Tech Giants Join e-Rupee Pilot: Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Others Embrace India’s Digital Currency appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Coinspeaker Tech Giants Join e-Rupee Pilot: Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Others Embrace India’s Digital Currency Top tech and payment firms are seeking to participate in the Indian central bank’s digital currency pilot. It was revealed that Google Pay, Walmart-backed PhonePe, and Amazon Pay are among the five payment companies that have applied to join the e-rupee pilot program, which will be run by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). These top fintech giants were joined by two other Indian financial companies: Cred and MobiKwik. Initially, the RBI allowed only Indian banks to offer the e-rupee, the digital version of the Indian Rupee, through their mobile applications. However, in April, the Indian central bank announced it would open the pilot to non-bank payment firms as well. Declining E-Rupee Usage Prompts Integration with Popular Payment Apps The e-rupee process kicked off in December 2022, when the Reserve Bank of India began the pilot program. The RBI officials promised the Indian citizens that the transaction details of using the digital currency would be kept private to some extent. However, after starting on a high ground, digital currency usage has declined, which is part of the broader struggle many countries have faced in encouraging the adoption of central bank digital currency (CBDC). Sources revealed to Reuters that to increase the use of the e-rupee, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is letting popular payment apps like Google Pay and Amazon Pay handle e-rupee transactions. Although e-rupee transactions increased in late 2023, amassing to over 1 million a day, it has now reduced to between 100,000 to 200,000 per day. The RBI hopes that integrating the e-rupee with leading payment apps will help drive greater usage and acceptance of the CBDC. However, the central bank has no immediate plans for a full-scale launch of…
Filed under: News - @ August 6, 2024 1:20 am