New Delhi, August 6: Indian fintech and payment companies like Google Pay, PhonePe, Amazon Pay, Cred and Mobikwik are reportedly showing interest in joining the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) digital currency initiative, the RBI Digital Rupee. As per reports, these companies are keen to be part of the RBI's digital rupee project, which is expected to enhance the digital payment system in India. The project, which involves the e-rupee, is anticipated to be facilitated by these payment firms, potentially expanding the user base and increasing transaction volumes.

As per a report of Reuters, Walmart-backed PhonePe, Google Pay and AmazonPay seeking to join the Indian central bank's digital currency pilot project. These companies are collaborating with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to introduce e-rupee access within 3 to 4 months, as per a report of Business Standard. RBI Repo Rate: Reserve Bank of India Unlikely To Cut Rate in Monetary Policy on August 8, Say Experts.

Alongside Google Pay, PhonePe, and Amazon Pay, fintech firms Cred and Mobikwik are also looking to join the pilot project. Despite a decline in e-rupee transactions from over 1 million daily last year to approximately 1,00,000-2,00,000 per day, the entry of these major companies is expected to boost the user base and transaction volumes. Approximately 13 billion transactions are processed each month through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system. These companies reportedly account for more than 85 percent of the digital payments that have been made through UPI. RBI Monetary Policy 2024: Reserve Bank of India Maintains Status Quo for Eighth Time in a Row; Repo Rate Unchanged at 6.5% (Watch Video).

In December 2022, the Reserve Bank of India introduced the e-rupee pilot program, which is a digital form of physical currency. This digital currency, known as the digital rupee, eRs or eINR, is issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It is a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that represents a digital version of the Indian rupee. The e-rupee operates on blockchain or distributed ledger technology.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 06, 2024 04:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).