A major Indian retailer, Reliance Retail, has rolled out support for payments in the digital rupee at one Freshpik store and plans to extend the experience to all formats across the network. TechCrunch reports.
The CEO of the company, V. Subramanyam, noted that the initiative aligns with the aim of giving consumers the option to choose. To complete a purchase, customers will need to scan a QR code.
“Indians will gain another efficient and secure alternative payment method,” said a senior executive.
The deployment CBDC became possible thanks to collaboration with ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Innovative Technologies.
In December 2022, India launched a pilot project to test the retail digital rupee among a limited group of consumers and merchants.
Earlier, the central bank announced a pilot project to test CBDC in wholesale payments .
In June, deputy governor T. Ravi Sankar suggested that the digital rupee could completely displace private virtual currencies, including Bitcoin.