 "MobiKwik, Cred first non-banks to offer CBDC, launches e-rupee wallet")
Fintech platforms MobiKwik and Cred on Tuesday rolled out an e₹ wallet for users on the platforms becoming the first non-banks to offer the central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Both the companies said the product was developed in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Yes Bank--which would function as the sponsor bank and enable CBDC issuance for Cred and MobiKwik.
MobiKwik said the roll-out was a ‘full-scale production version’ to its users. The company has a base of over 167 million customers.
Meanwhile, Cred said it had launched the beta version of the e₹ wallet to select users.
At present, Cred and MobiKwik are third party application providers (TPAP) on India’s real-time payment rails Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
“CRED members whitelisted for the beta can pay UPI-linked bank accounts, and send/receive money to other CBDC wallets,” the Bengaluru-based fintech firm said in a statement.
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The roll-out comes over 10 months after the central bank proposed to make CBDC-R (CBDC-Retail) accessible to a broader population by allowing non-bank payment system operators to offer CBDC wallets. Non-bank payment system operators include TPAPs like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, among others.
“e₹ transfers can be made to anyone with an e₹ wallet or UPI ID. Our goal is to drive the adoption of e₹ in India and move towards a less cash economy,” said Bipin Preet Singh, co-founder and MD, MobiKwik.
Users can create and load their e₹ wallets via UPI after completing video Know Your Customer (KYC).
The wallets support transactions up to Rs 10,000 per transfer with a daily limit of Rs 50,000. Cred said that future updates will enable programmable merchant payments, CRED Pay integration and PIN-less transactions below Rs 500.
All of Cred's users will have access to the wallet in the coming months.
“The e₹ wallet is a milestone in India's financial evolution. With the support of RBI, we're enabling the creditworthy to shape the future of digital currency in the world's fastest-growing economy. Our goal is to make e₹ transactions frictionless and drive its adoption among the most creditworthy Indians,” said Kunal Shah, founder, Cred.
The RBI started a pilot for wholesale CBDC in November 2022 and for retail CBDC in December 2022.
The retail pilot for CBDC saw the number of customers grow to 5 million by June 2024 from 1.3 million a year ago, while merchants increased to 0.42 million from 0.3 million, according to RBI’s Currency and Finance report.
India is among 36 countries where the CBDC is currently in the pilot stage.