Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Monday announced that the conglomerate's financial services division Jio Financial Services may also start offering blockchain-related products as well as digital rupee.
JFS products will not just compete with current industry benchmarks but also explore path-breaking features such as blockchain-based platforms and CBDC. They will adhere to the highest standards of security, regulatory norms and ensure protection of customer transaction data at all times," Ambani told shareholders at the company's AGM.
The RBI has devised the central bank digital currency (CBDC) known as e-rupee as a digital alternative to physical cash - using blockchain distributed-ledger technology. As of June 2023, there were 1.3 million customers and 0.3 million merchants using CBDC.
The RBI had last year begun experiments on both the wholesale and retail versions of e-rupee using the blockchain distributed-ledger technology, as an alternative to cash.