Chennai: Public sector Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) on Monday launched its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) application (IOB Digital Rupee), enabling customers to transact using India’s Digital Rupee (e₹) through a secure digital payment mobile application.The application provides customers to maintain Digital Rupee Wallets and perform instant peer to peer (P2P) and peer to Merchant (P2M) transactions, the bank said in a statement here. It supports UPI interoperability, providing customers with an additional digital payment option along with the existing UPI applications. The mobile application has been designed with a focus on security, ease of use and accessibility, ensuring a superior digital payment experience, it added.IOB MD and CEO Ajay Kumar Srivastava said, the launch of the application marks another significant step in the bank’s digital transformation journey. “The Digital Rupee complements the existing digital payment ecosystem and offers customers a secure, convenient and innovative payment option,” he said.Programmable CBDC (PCBDC) functionality in the IOB Digital Rupee application has been enabled, facilitating purpose-specific disbursement and utilisation of govt grants and benefits through CBDC. The functionality also offers potential for efficient delivery of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and other govt-sponsored benefits, it said. “The bank is actively engaging with various govt departments to explore opportunities to act as a Sponsor Bank for PCBDC-based fund disbursement programmes,” he added.Ends/YK
