Indian fintech app CRED is beta testing support for the digital rupee as part of India’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) trials, the Hindu Businessline reported. Another app, MobiKwik, said it is fully in production for Android users. Yes Bank is acting as sponsor bank for both fintechs to enable access to the CBDC.
Both wallets also support India’s UPI instant payment system, with CRED ranking as fifth largest app for UPI and MobiKwik as 17th. CRED has 13 million monthly active users and MobiKwik says its wallet has 167 million end users, but doesn’t mention how many of those are active.
Transaction limits for the CBDC are currently Rupee 10,000 ($115.50) and Rupee 50,000 ($578) per month.
Other apps planning to support the digital rupee include Walmart-backed PhonePe, Google Pay and Amazon Pay. PhonePe and Google Pay dominate consumer UPI payments with market shares of 49% and 37% respectively at the end of last year.
While UPI is an interbank payment system, the user interfaces are mainly provided by fintechs. For example, only two banks rank in the top ten for UPI apps. Hence, by expanding access to the CBDC to other fintechs, usage of the pilot CBDC could grow significantly, particularly when PhonePe joins.
The Reserve Bank of India is taking a softly, softly approach with the CBDC. It recognizes the dominance of UPI instant payments. Hence, the digital rupee will provide offline functionality and programmability, which are both works in progress. The Ministry of Finance and central bank expect cross border payments to be the killer app. With India’s large diaspora, it is the world’s largest recipient of inbound remittances.
