HDFC Bank has rolled out UPI QR code interoperability with Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). With this, the private bank becomes one of the first banks in the country to complete the integration process.
The interoperable UPI QR code enables HDFC Bank merchants who have been onboarded on the bank’s CBDC platform to accept payments from their customers in the form of Digital Rupee currency, boosting usage of CBDC in day-to-day transactions.
It is an extension to the CBDC pilot launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), last year.
Digital Rupee is a tokenised digital version of the Indian Rupee, issued by the RBI as a Central Bank Digital Currency.
An interoperable QR code enables basic QR payment acceptance terminals to support Scan & Pay features from various factors & payment options. It provides freedom to accept payments using the same QR from various form factors.
With the new facility, consumers will be able to transact money available in their CBDC wallet across UPI QR code. They will not have any need to scan different QR codes at the same merchant.
Also, merchants will only need to display one QR code at the storefront or through the acquiring bank’s mobile application. They won’t need to change their existing QR codes.
“CBDC is a forward-looking initiative and its QR interoperability with the already accepted and widely popular UPI is going to prove greatly beneficial to its usage,” said Parag Rao, Country Head, Payments, Consumer Finance, Technology & Digital Banking, HDFC Bank.
