One of India’s largest retail chains, Reliance Retail, has announced that it has started accepting digital rupees in one of its stores and plans to extend the launch to all its businesses.
In a report by Tech Crunch, the company said central bank digital currency (CBDC) support has been rolled out to Freshpik, a line of gourmet stores. In addition, the company also noted that it will expand support for the digital rupee to all properties, a move that could drive adoption for the country’s CBDC.
V Subramaniam, an executive at Reliance Retail, said that accepting the central bank’s digital currency is in line with the company’s vision to give Indian consumers the “power of choice”. The executive also stated that the initiative allows the company to offer alternative payment options in stores.
According to the report, Reliance Retail is partnering with ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and fintech company, Innoviti Technologies to launch support for CBDC. Consumers who choose to pay with digital rupees will receive a QR code at the store to complete the payment.
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The plan for the country’s CBDC was outlined by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 7 in a 51-page note. The country’s central bank determines various factors, including potential positive and negative effects. According to the RBI, one of the motivations behind CBDC is to reduce the operational costs of managing cash.
RBI launches digital rupee wholesale pilot in November 2022 for institutions and traders. On December 1, 2022, the central bank will start a CBDC pilot for retail consumers in a closed user group consisting of merchants and customers.