HT Bureau
Guwahati, Feb 13: HDFC Bank launched a pilot in partnership with Crunchfish, to test offline digital payments for merchants and customers under the RBI’s Regulatory Sandbox Program, known as ‘OfflinePay’. HDFC Bank’s ‘OfflinePay’ will enable customers and merchants to make and receive payments even when there is no mobile network. HDFC Bank is the first bank in the industry to launch a digital payment solution in a completely offline mode. This can boost the adoption of digital payments in smaller towns and rural areas with poor network connectivity. HDFC Bank has been working with the regulator to pilot offline digital payments under the payments cohort of RBI’s Regulatory Sandbox program. In September 2022, RBI approved HDFC Bank’s application, in partnership with Crunchfish, to access the Regulatory Sandbox. Crunchfish Digital Cash AB is a subsidiary of Crunchfish AB, a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm, Sweden. The pilot, if successful, will provide the basis for RBI’s guidance and regulatory support in providing offline digital payments based on ‘The Crunchfish Digital Cash platform to the payment ecosystem of India.
Digital payment typically requires one party (either the customer or the merchant) to be online. This limits the usage of such payments to areas with good data connectivity. HDFC Bank’s ‘OfflinePay’ brings in the unique capability where both customer and merchant can be fully offline and yet do the transaction. Merchants can receive an instant payment confirmation even in an offline mode. As soon as either the merchant or the customer goes online, the transaction gets settled.
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“HDFC Bank is pleased to work under the regulator’s guidance and partner with Crunchfish Digital Cash to launch ‘OfflinePay’, an industry-first digital solution. This innovation will accelerate financial inclusion in remote areas by enabling the adoption of digital payments as both merchants and customers can do transactions without any network. HDFC Bank is committed to bringing more digital innovations and payment solutions to its customers and merchants,” said Parag Rao, country head for Payments Business, Consumer Finance, Digital Banking, and Marketing at HDFC Bank.
