Indian retail giant to accept CBDC payments for goods

India’s largest retail chain Reliance Retail has begun accepting payments in the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), TechCrunch reported.

According to the report, Reliance Retail already rolled out the Digital Rupee support at its gourmet store chain Freshpik and intends to roll it out to its other divisions in the coming days

Reliance Retail director V. Subramaniam said:

“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.

With more Indians willing to transact digitally, this initiative will help us provide yet another efficient and secure alternative payment method to customers at our stores.”

Reliance Retail said it partnered with Fintech Innoviti Technologies, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank to have them assist in facilitating the transactions in digital Rupee. The team created a CBDC transaction process that allows users to pay easily by scanning a QR code.

India’s CBDC

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rolled its sleeves to launch a CBDC in 2022. On Sept. 7, the RBI said it was exchanging talks with fintech companies and four public banks to launch a CBDC pilot program.

The bank released a blueprint for the digital Rupee on Oct. 7, 2022, that included technical aspects as well as more details regarding its scope, motivation, and the upcoming pilot phase.

The close-circle pilot phase of the digital Rupee started on Nov. 1 and successfully facilitated transactions in government securities. The public pilot began on Dec. 1, 2022. However, it failed to sway the public despite heavy coverage from local media.