GooglePay, Walmart-backed PhonePe, and AmazonPay are among five payment firms seeking to join BRICS member India’s central bank’s digital currency crypto project. The franchise payment systems will work in the BRICS nation’s project by offering transactions via the e-rupee, according to sources familiar.
The Reserve Bank of India started a pilot for the e-rupee, a digital alternative to the physical rupee, in December 2022. It is the first form of digital payment or crypto project from the BRICS alliance to reel in interest from A-level companies, especially in India. Previously, the Central Bank of India had permitted only banks to offer e-rupee via their mobile applications. However, in April it said payment firms could also offer e-rupee transactions via their platform once the Reserve Bank of India approves.
Google, Amazon, and Walmart Looking to Work With BRICS on CBDCs
The e-rupee performed well at first but has struggled to maintain momentum since 2023. Google and Amazon are two of India’s widely used Unified Payments Interfaces. Thus, the move by these companies is a major one for further digital currency innovation in India and among BRICS. The sources add that the companies expect to roll out access to e-rupee over the next three to four months.
Over the past year, the BRICS economic alliance integrated initiatives that were vital to its overall growth. Alongside the adoption of prevalent De-dollarization plans, the alliance has also expanded for the first time since 2001. Subsequently, those two things aligned in what could be a landmark for digital assets and the economic alliance.
The BRICS alliance has flirted with digital assets in the past, including crypto. The bloc recently contemplated curating a CBDC for its eventual United BRICS currency. They are looking to launch a new CBDC currency to settle cross-border transactions instead of fiat currencies. BRICS aims to topple the US dollar by putting CBDC’s or local currencies ahead for global trade and commerce. Furthermore, certain nations within BRICS are seeking out Bitcoin, believing it can become a future global asset following the failure of the US Dollar.