Cred first non-bank to offer CBDC, launches e-rupee wallet for users

Cred on Tuesday became the first fintech platform to launch e₹ wallet, where select retail users will have access to the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The product was developed in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Yes Bank — which would function as the sponsor bank and enable CBDC issuance for Cred — the firm said in a statement.

At present, Cred is a third party application provider (TPAP) on India’s real-time payment rails Unified Payment Interface (UPI).

The beta roll-out comes over 10 months after the central bank proposed to make CBDC-R (CBDC-Retail) accessible to a broader population by allowing non-bank payment system operators to offer CBDC wallets. Non-bank payment system operators include TPAPs like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, among others.

“Cred members whitelisted for the beta can pay UPI-linked bank accounts, and send/receive money to other CBDC wallets,” the Bengaluru-based fintech firm said in a statement.

Users can create and load their e₹ wallets via UPI after completing video Know Your Customer (KYC).

The wallet supports transactions up to Rs 10,000 per transfer with a daily limit of Rs 50,000. Cred said that future updates will enable programmable merchant payments, CRED Pay integration and PIN-less transactions below Rs 500.

All of the platform’s users will have access to the wallet in the coming months.

“The e₹ wallet is a milestone in India’s financial evolution. With the support of RBI, we’re enabling the creditworthy to shape the future of digital currency in the world’s fastest-growing economy. Our goal is to make e₹ transactions frictionless and drive its adoption among the most creditworthy Indians,” said Kunal Shah, founder, Cred.

The RBI started a pilot for wholesale CBDC in November 2022 and for retail CBDC in December 2022.

The retail pilot for CBDC saw the number of customers grow to 5 million by June 2024 from 1.3 million a year ago, while merchants increased to 0.42 million from 0.3 million, according to RBI’s Currency and Finance report.

India is among 36 countries where the CBDC is currently in the pilot stage.