HDFC Bank Showcases Five Digital Rupee Uses, From Rewards To In-Flight Payments

Mumbai: HDFC Bank has showcased five new uses for the digital rupee, spanning credit card rewards, promotional vouchers, employee allowances, BHIM payments and offline purchases onboard flights.

The bank unveiled the initiatives last week. It aims to make India’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) more useful to individuals and businesses. The bank presented the initiatives as applications of India’s sovereign digital currency.

Rewards and promotional vouchers

Credit card customers will soon be able to redeem reward points for digital rupees, similar to brand vouchers. The bank said customers could spend the value on dining, fuel, clothing and electronics, down to the last paise.

HDFC Bank also plans to issue digital rupee gift vouchers in promotions. A qualifying event would trigger a voucher credited to the customer’s digital rupee wallet. Customers could then spend it by scanning a merchant UPI QR code.

Corporate payments and BHIM

For businesses, the bank is developing a corporate portal through which organisations can disburse meal, fuel and travel allowances in digital rupees using corporate net banking.

The payments can be programmed for specific purposes, helping companies control spending and simplify expense reconciliation.

The bank said its digital rupee wallets will also be available on BHIM. This would let customers make familiar payments from their CBDC wallets at merchants accepting UPI QR codes.

Payments without internet

Another proposed feature would allow passengers to tap their phones on HDFC Bank point-of-sale devices during flights to buy food, beverages or seat upgrades without an internet connection.

Ashish Parthasarathy, the bank’s group head overseeing payments and other businesses, said the use cases address demand for purpose-bound payments, compliance and auditability. He said HDFC Bank would continue working with the Reserve Bank of India on CBDC applications.

Senior executive Rajanish Prabhu said wider adoption would depend on bringing the digital rupee into everyday transactions, including rewards, employee benefits and offline payments. The showcase points to uses beyond conventional account-based digital transfers.