Yes Bank Integrates UPI to Boost Digital Rupee Usability
- Yes Bank has announced the integration with UPI payment portal to increase the usability of the digital rupee.
- Users will be able to scan QR codes and make payments via the digital rupee.
- Yes Bank was involved in the pilot of the retail version of the digital rupee as well.
- The entities involved in the pilot had carried out 800,000 transactions worth $134 million by February.
Yes Bank, an Indian bank headquartered in Mumbai and founded in 2004, has announced earlier this week that it will enhance the use cases of the digital rupee via the integration of UPI or Unified Payments Interface, an instant payment system developed in India with the digital rupee app. The central bank digital currency (CBDC) was recently introduced and has yet to see a widespread adoption rate.
According to the announcement made by Yes Bank, users will be able to scan any QR code with their UPI applications and pay using the digital rupee. The digital rupee was recently introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) but it failed to attract the attention of the masses. On the other hand, UPI is one of the most successful payment gateways operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a division of the RBI.
Yes Bank executive Ajay Rajan noted in a statement that this is the first integration of the digital rupee with the UPI portal while adding:
“The transition to an interoperable CBDC platform holds the promise of seamless, efficient, and broader transactional capabilities for YES BANK customers. […] This transformational enabler will facilitate a quantum leap in CBDC usage, driven by the enhanced convenience and accessibility.”
It is important to mention here that Yes Bank was one of the eight partner banks that were involved in the retail digital rupee pilot project. The project involved over 5,000 merchants followed by 50,000 CBDC users and had carried out 800,000 transactions worth $134 million by February. A wholesale version of the CBDC was also released by the RBI in November.
India has a huge number of crypto holders and through the integration of Yes Bank with UPI, more people will be able to access blockchain-based payments in the country. As reported earlier by BitcoinWisdom, according to a study conducted by Statista, the number of crypto users in India is expected to surge to more than 156 million by the end of 2023. Moreover, over 11% of the population of India is expected to have some kind of exposure to cryptocurrencies by the end of this year.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
