Airtel Payments Bank, IDEMIA, and HMD collaborate to enable use of digital rupee on feature phones

7 Sep 2023 , 12:40 PM

Airtel Payments Bank, IDEMIA, and Nokia brand phone maker HMD Global have teamed forces to introduce Central Bank Digital Currency to feature phones in India, according to a joint statement released on Wednesday.

According to the announcement, the three institutions will collaborate over the next several months to build an enhanced offline payment system that would enable the usage of the digital rupee on feature phones while also increasing financial inclusion.

According to the statement, for the first time in the industry, an endeavour is being made to introduce CBDC payments to feature phones via an application interface. IDEMIA will provide an offline layer to allow instant and safe transactions without the requirement for online validation as part of this agreement.

According to the announcement, the technology would operate with the digital rupee in India as well as any other solution, decentralized or centralized, token or account-based, built in-house by a central bank or independent software suppliers.

Users will be able to pay using an inventive and cost-effective feature phone once the solution is commercially accessible, extending the accessibility of offline payment functions to a larger audience.

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