HDFC Bank on Thursday launched UPI QR code interoperable with the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
The interoperable UPI QR code will allow 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, India’s largest private sector bank said in a statement.
CBDC, or Digital Rupee, is a tokenised digital version of the Indian Rupee issued by the RBI.
- BL Explainer: RBI’s e-Rupee versus UPI
An interoperable QR code will enable the basic QR payment acceptance terminal to support Scan & Pay feature from various factors & payment options. It provides freedom to accept payments using the same QR from various factors.
The interoperability of UPI QR codes with CBDC will enable customers to transact money available in their CBDC wallet across UPI QR codes. Further, there will be no need to scan different QR codes at the same merchant.
In the case of merchants, they only need to display one QR code at the storefront or through the acquiring bank’s mobile application. Moreover, they need not change their existing QR codes.
The Bank said it has onboarded over 1 lakh customers and 1.7 lakh merchants under the CBDC pilot programme.