IndusInd Bank joins Indraprastha Gas for Digital Rupee dealings in Delhi NCR

Indusind Bank

Private sector lender IndusInd Bank on November 24 announced its association with Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) to help in the acceptance of the digital rupee, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year.

The bank in its regulatory filing said that this collaboration will enable customers at select IGL stations in Delhi NCR to make payments using the digital rupee, fostering the use and acceptance of India’s own digital currency.

"Through the UPI interoperability, customers can scan any UPI QR using their Digital Rupee App across all IGL stations. As one of the pilot banks participating in the RBI's CBDC initiative, IndusInd Bank believes in the value added by CBDC and aims to provide a seamless and comprehensive payment experience to its customers through the use of digital currency,"

Sumant Kathpalia, managing director and CEO of IndusInd Bank, said.

“The adoption of CBDC is a significant step in reshaping the financial landscape. We believe that the Digital Rupee, with its blockchain technology, fortifies financial services, by offering faster, convenient, and secure transactions. With the introduction of UPI interoperability, Digital Rupee is poised to become another significant platform contributing towards a ‘cashless’ economy.”

The bank added that the Digital Rupee solution is available on both iOS and Android platforms, ensuring a user-friendly experience and offering various features such as peer-to-peer (P2P) and peer-to-merchant (P2M) payments with complete UPI QR interoperability.

"This initiative is the right step in enabling secure, inclusive, sustainable and efficient mode of digital transaction which will further strengthen India's position in the global economy," Kamal Kishore Chatiwal, managing director of IGL, said.

On the CBDC front, the state-owned Bank of Baroda is looking to increase the CBDC user base to 10 lakh over the next three to four months, BoB executive director Joydeep Dutta Roy. “We have around 2.5 lakh users and we are working to make 10 lakh users over the next 3-4 months.”