Reliance General Insurance has become the first general insurance company to accept RBI’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) e-Rupee (e₹) for premium payments.
The insurer has tied up with YES Bank to facilitate the collection of premiums in digital mode using the bank’s e-rupee platform.
Customers who have an active e-rupee wallet with any bank can scan Reliance General Insurance’s CBDC QR code to make easy, safe, instant, and green payments.
e-rupee is a digital token, equivalent to a banknote, and is legal tender or sovereign currency backed by the RBI. It removes all the issues of handling physical cash and offers the same anonymity as a banknote.
Moreover, since all transactions are done through an RBI-regulated entity, it reduces banknote-related risks such as anti-money laundering, the counterfeiting of currency, etc, the company said in a release.
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‘Complement existing digital payment systems’
“YES Bank is pleased to partner with Reliance General Insurance in promoting CBDC, an industry first in the insurance sector. With higher familiarisation and wider adoption, we expect CBDC transactions to complement existing digital payment systems considering features such as authenticity, interoperability, and settlement finality,” said Arun Agrawal, Country Head-Institutional & Government Banking, YES Bank.
Currently, Reliance General Insurance’s physical e-rupee QR code is available at select branches for walk-in customers to scan and pay instantly. It plans to make it available at all branches across the country, on its website, and on the Reliance Self-i app in the next few months.