Tag: CBDC

Finance

HDFC Bank Integrates Digital Rupee (e₹) into SmartGateway Payment Platform

Tanisha Cardozo

Written by Tanisha Cardozo || Team Allycaral

HDFC Bank has announced the integration of the Reserve Bank of India’s Central Bank Digital Currency, the Digital Rupee (e₹), into its online merchant payment platform, SmartGateway, marking a significant step in expanding India’s digital payments ecosystem. The move enables merchants to offer customers a secure, sovereign-backed digital payment option directly within the HDFC Bank checkout experience.

With this integration, merchants using SmartGateway can now accept payments through the Digital Rupee at zero transaction cost, in addition to existing payment modes such as UPI, cards, and net banking. The enhancement is designed to provide customers with a seamless payment experience that is instant, secure, and free of intermediary charges.

As of December 2025, HDFC Bank is among the pilot banks participating in the RBI’s CBDC initiative, servicing approximately 8.45 lakh registered Digital Rupee wallets. The bank continues to see steady adoption, with nearly 13,000 to 15,000 new wallets being added every month, reflecting growing consumer and merchant confidence in the emerging digital currency.

For merchants, zero-cost acceptance of CBDC presents a future-ready payment option that offers improved settlement certainty and reduced operational overheads by eliminating intermediaries. For consumers, the Digital Rupee combines the convenience and speed associated with UPI with the added trust and assurance of an RBI-backed sovereign digital currency, ensuring fast and secure transactions.

By enabling CBDC acceptance on SmartGateway, HDFC Bank is expanding the choice of digital payment options available to customers while extending the benefits of the Digital Rupee to a broader base of businesses. The initiative underscores the bank’s digital-first approach and its continued focus on innovation in the payments space.

This integration further reinforces HDFC Bank’s commitment to supporting India’s transition towards a cash-light, inclusive digital economy, while positioning SmartGateway as a comprehensive and future-ready payment platform aligned with the country’s evolving financial landscape.

Finance

RBI Launches Offline ‘Digi Rupee’: Money Transfers Now Possible Without Internet

allycaralgoa

In a major leap toward digital financial inclusion, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the launch of an offline feature for its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), popularly known as the ‘Digi Rupee’.

The offline functionality allows users to transfer money without internet connectivity, a development aimed at empowering citizens in rural, remote, and low-connectivity areas across the country.

According to the RBI, this innovation will make digital payments more accessible, ensuring that even those without reliable network coverage can participate in India’s growing digital economy.

The offline Digi Rupee can be used for peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions, just like digital wallets, but backed directly by the central bank — making it secure, instant, and cost-efficient.

Experts believe that the move could significantly boost the adoption of digital transactions and support the government’s broader Digital India mission.

The initiative also underscores RBI’s ongoing efforts to enhance financial inclusion and build a resilient payment ecosystem that reaches every citizen, regardless of connectivity.

With this step, India joins a small group of countries exploring offline digital currency technology, marking another milestone in its transformation into a digitally empowered economy.