Indian banks are offering incentives to encourage people to use the CBDC issued by the RBI called e-rupee. These incentives are similar to the rewards offered on debit and credit card transactions.
The RBI started a pilot program for the e-rupee in December with the expectations of reaching one million transactions daily by year-end, but the transactions are still going below the target, having approximately 25,000 users per day.
Parag Rao, responsible for payments, liability products, consumer finance, and marketing at the HDFC bank, mentioned that these offers are aimed at expanding the volume of such transactions.
The central bank has introduced new features, including linking the e-rupee to India’s popular real-time payment system, the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), in an effort to attract more users.
HDFC Bank, India’s largest private bank, has started to provide incentives to increase the use of these transactions. Smaller private banks like Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank are offering reward points that can be redeemed for various benefits, such as travel bookings, mobile recharges, and cashback through the FastTag system, which is used for highway toll collection.
Also Read: India’s Canara Bank Launches UPI-Linked Digital Rupee App
