Cred, MobiKwik Become First Fintech Firms to Launch RBI's E-Rupee CBDC Wallets
Sponsored by Yes Bank, both fintechs now offer CBDC wallets supporting P2P and merchant payments, with plans for programmable merchant payments and PIN-less transactions. Daily limit set at Rs 50,000, Rs 10,000 per transaction, and Rs 500 PIN-less threshold.
What happened
Cred and MobiKwik become first fintech firms to launch RBI CBDC (E-Rupee) e-wallets, sponsored by Yes Bank, supporting P2P and merchant payments with plans for
Key facts
- Rs 50,000 daily limit
- Rs 10,000 per transaction
- Rs 500 PIN-less threshold
Why this matters
Being the first non-bank fintechs cleared to distribute CBDC wallets signals a widening ecosystem where sponsor-bank partnerships (Yes Bank here) become the entry point for future fintech-CBDC alliances and acquisition targets.
What to watch
- e-Rupee daily active wallet and transaction volume disclosures
- RBI expansion of PIN-less threshold or Rs 50k daily cap
- Government/welfare disbursal pilots using programmable CBDC
- Competing fintech CBDC wallet launches within 6 months
- Interoperability announcements between CBDC and UPI QR
- Cred/MobiKwik push merchant onboarding with programmable payment incentives and cashback to seed usage
- Yes Bank scales sponsor-bank rails and markets CBDC as a fintech partnership template
- Larger UPI incumbents (PhonePe, Paytm) accelerate their own CBDC wallet pilots
- RBI expands non-bank participation guidelines and raises transaction limits if adoption holds