HDFC Bank on Monday said it has launched a pilot in partnership with Crunchfish to test offline digital payments for merchants and customers under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) regulatory sandbox programme, known as ‘‘OfflinePay’’.
The country’s largest private sector lender said OfflinePay will enable customers and merchants to make and receive payments even when there is no mobile network. HDFC Bank is the first lender to launch a digital payment solution in a completely offline mode. According to the bank, this can boost adoption of digital payments in smaller towns and rural areas with poor network connectivity.
Sweden’s Crunchfish Digital Cash AB is a subsidiary of Crunchfish AB, a publicly listed company on Nasdaq First North Growth Market.
HDFC Bank added that even in urban centres, it can enable cashless payments during large public events, fairs and exhibitions despite network congestion. It can also allow transactions in underground metro stations, parking lots and retail stores with network blind spots, apart from airplanes, sea-ferries and trains with no network.
The private sector lender is now starting the service as part of a limited pilot for four months in more than 16 cities and towns in the country. During the pilot, the offline transaction amount would be limited to up to Rs 200 per transaction.
Customers will have to first open the OfflinePay app and then select HDFC Bank to login or register. After entering the device fingerprint or PIN to be used as additional factor authentication (AFA), the wallet balance or status will be visible. Customers can activate the offline pay digital wallet through a PIN and even top it up. To make a payment, customers will have to open the payment app and scan the QR code presented by the merchant.
HDFC Bank said that it has been working with the RBI to pilot offline digital payments under the payments cohort of the latter’s regulatory sandbox programme. In September 2022, the RBI approved HDFC Bank’s application, in partnership with Crunchfish, to access the regulatory sandbox.
