Ali Raza
Reliance Retail, one of the largest retail chains in India, is set to start accepting India’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), known as the digital rupee. India recently launched its CBDC, and the acceptance by Reliance Retail could set the stage for widespread adoption of digital currency.
India’s largest retail chain to accept digital rupee payments
Reliance Retail has said it will collaborate with ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Innoviti Technologies to support digital rupee payments at the retail chain. The retail giant noted that the customers who wanted to make digital rupee payments would be given a QR code that they would scan to make the payments.
Reliance Retail has said that support for this digital rupee would initially be rolled out in Freshpik. The feature will then be extended to the other properties that Reliance owns. Reliance has become the largest company in India that has adopted the digital rupee.
According to a report by TechCrunch, the Director of Reliance Retail, V Subramaniam, said that the acceptance of digital rupee payments aligned with the company’s vision of giving Indian consumers more choice.
“With more Indians willing to transact digitally, this initiative will help us provide yet to another efficient and secure alternative payment method to customers at our stores,” Subramaniam added.
The Reserve Bank of India commenced the pilot phase for the digital rupee in December, targeting retail markets across different cities in India. The central bank plans to use the digital rupee to reduce cash transactions. The digital rupee also aims to ease cross-border transactions and protect citizens against volatile private digital currencies.
India promotes the digital rupee at the expense of the crypto industry
India has been promoting the use of the digital rupee at the expense of the local cryptocurrency industry. The Reserve Bank of India remains opposed to cryptocurrencies and has been forcing banks to avoid engaging with crypto platforms, which has affected the operations of crypto platforms.
The 2023 Union Budget has come with friendly provisions for the middle class with a revised tax policy for income tax concessions targeting the middle class. However, the budget did not mention anything about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, which has created panic across the market despite earlier expectations.
Breaking
The former Finance secretary of India Mr Subhash Chandra Garg says “Crypto taxes need a lot more clarity & he might not see any new changes in the upcoming budget 2023”.
What are your thoughts? pic.twitter.com/eVXE0sC6Pl
— KoinX (@getkoinx) January 30, 2023
India has maintained the flat 30% tax on cryptocurrencies approved in the previous budget. The crypto taxation policy also includes a 1% TDS charged on all crypto transactions. The heavy taxation policy has affected the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the country and hampered the existing market.
While the tax policy was expected, it is bound to affect further the trading volumes on crypto exchanges based in India. After the tax policy was implemented, the trading volumes on some of the largest exchanges dropped by around 90%. Industry players are already complaining about the government’s failure to bring these taxes down as crypto investments were shifting overseas.
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This article was written for Business 2 Community by Ali Raza.
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