Push for Indian e₹-R as in-store retail payments acceptance launched

Customers, using their choice of digital rupee app powered by ICICI Bank or Kotak Mahindra Bank, need to simply scan the QR code on the terminal and enter their passcode to authorise payment through e₹-R.

Cashiers and consumers get instant confirmation of e₹ transfer from consumer to Reliance Retail. The technology enables automatic reconciliation, the companies said in a joint press release.

“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,” V. Subramaniam, director, Reliance Retail Limited, said.

“The digital rupee, which is a tokenised digital version of the Indian rupee, is a resilient, safe and additional avenue to users for making payments. Increased acceptance of digital rupee would hasten its adoption among customers, said Bijith Bhaskar, head of digital channels and partnerships, ICICI Bank.

On December 1 last year, e₹-R was first introduced by the Reserve Bank of India for retail markets across select Indian cities in a pilot mode, with access limited to consumers of certain identified banks. Initially limited to four cities viz, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar, it was later extended to nine other cities.

Eight banks, including ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank have been identified for phase-wise participation in this pilot

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)