Indian banks offer incentives to lift RBI's e-rupee: Report

livemint.com:

Digital Rupee: In a bid to boost volums in RBI's e-rupee transactions, Indian banks are offering incentives for using the central bank digital currency. Three sources familiar with the development told news agency Reuters. Sources went on to add that incentives from Indian banks ranges from cashback, reward points, etc that credit and debit cards offer to its users.

Bank are funding these offers on their own. In September, RBI had introduced new features that included linking the e-rupee to real time payment gateway UPI (Unified Payment Interface), to attract more Digital Rupee users. Informing about the initiatives taken by HDFC Bank to boost RBI's e-rupee transactions, country head for payments, liability products, consumer finance and marketing, Parag Rao said that India's largest private lender has rolled out such offers for its customers.

However, Rao did not identify the specific offers it is running. Smaller private banks like Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank are offering reward points that can be encashed for travel bookings, mobile recharges and cashbacks via FastTag, a highway toll collection system, according to the second of the three sources. ICICI Bank and Union Bank are some other banks that are also expected to roll out similar incentives, according to two executives at the respective banks.

The RBI want to boost usages of its e-rupee. It has been incorporating various use cases and features to boost Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). However, this times, its Indian banks that are showering various benefits that they usually offer for their credit and debit card uusers.