Latest news with #CentralBankDigitalCurrency
Time of India
19 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
DSP Asset Managers partners with Cybrilla to bring mutual funds live on ONDC Network
DSP Asset Managers has partnered with Cybrilla to become one of the first mutual fund companies to go live on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). By joining ONDC Network , DSP MF is opening up new opportunities as the network's open design lets more distributors, including local entrepreneurs and fintech startups—offer mutual funds to a wider audience. ONDC is an initiative of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India to create a facilitative model that revolutionizes digital commerce, giving greater thrust to penetration of retail e-commerce in India, according to a press release by the fund house. Also Read | Nearly 112 lakh SIPs closed in 2025: Should you worry about the negative net SIP trend? Best MF to invest Looking for the best mutual funds to invest? Here are our recommendations. View Details » ONDC Network's financial services initiative focuses on helping people who have been unserved / underserved by the traditional financial system. It provides easier access to credit for individuals and small businesses, especially in areas where banking services are limited. It also offers simple investment options for first-time investors who want to start small and grow their savings steadily, the release added. Because ONDC Network is decentralized, DSP and its partners can create new investment products like daily SIPs or goal-based micro-investments. Live Events This setup also lowers costs. DSP can cover KYC and payment gateway fees, making it easier for new distributors to join and serve customers. The Network's focus on bringing in first-time investors and keeping them engaged fits perfectly with DSP's belief in disciplined, long-term investing. ONDC network is also evaluating feasibility of newer technologies like Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) which can be used for purchase and redemption of mutual funds lowering overall costs and offering instant settlement. "Our Integration with ONDC is a big step toward making investing simple and available to everyone in India. We want to reach people in smaller cities who have fewer options and help them start building wealth with confidence. This is not just about technology — it's about giving more people a fair chance to grow financially,' said Manish Rathi, VP and Head – Consumer Growth Marketing, DSP Asset Managers. Also Read | Mutual funds slashes cash allocation by Rs 13,000 crore in June; PPFAS and Quant MF join trend "This integration signals a shift from centralized distribution to decentralized opportunity. By bringing mutual funds onto the ONDC Network, we're not just expanding access; we're reconfiguring the way financial products are discovered, trusted, and adopted at scale. DSP's early participation exemplifies the foresight needed to lead in this new landscape,' said Vibhor Jain, Acting CEO and COO at ONDC. "Bringing mutual funds onto the ONDC network isn't just a technical milestone, it's a structural shift in how financial products reach people. With DSP Asset Managers on board, we're enabling a new kind of distribution where local distributors and digital apps can offer low-cost, goal-based investments to first-time investors across India. It's exactly the kind of inclusive infrastructure we've always wanted to build, and we're proud to help make wealth creation more accessible,' said Anchal Jajodia, Co-founder, Cybrilla.
Economic Times
a day ago
- Business
- Economic Times
RBI closely monitoring global crypto moves as India mulls policy paper
The Reserve Bank of India is closely monitoring global cryptocurrency developments, especially with Donald Trump's shift in stance. India is expected to release a paper on crypto soon, even as the RBI emphasizes the effectiveness of UPI for digital transactions. The central bank is also developing its own CBDC and has highlighted concerns about crypto's potential impact on financial stability. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is keeping close watch on global cryptocurrency developments , governor Sanjay Malhotra told a parliamentary panel, people familiar with the matter told ET. Crypto has been resurgent since Donald Trump's turnaround from sceptic to champion. Besides Trump's own ventures in the sector, under his presidency, the US is setting up a bitcoin reserve and plans pro-crypto is expected to float a paper soon on crypto after getting a nod from the highest level of government, people familiar with the matter paper was a 'work in progress,' the governor told the lawmakers, according to one of the persons cited. Another person said Malhotra pointed out that cryptocurrencies were not needed in India with the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) working effectively for internal digital was appearing before the parliamentary standing committee on finance chaired by BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, briefing members on the subject of 'RBI's evolving role in India's dynamic economy.' The central bank has in the past opposed crypto assets, flagging their misuse in money laundering and terror financing.'Of course, as you are aware, we are concerned about crypto because that can hamper financial stability and monetary policy,' Malhotra had said on June 6 while briefing reporters on the decisions of the Monetary Policy Committee. The RBI is also in the process of establishing its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as a safer alternative. India imposes a 30% tax on gains from virtual digital assets even though it does not legally recognise them. It has also made it mandatory for crypto exchanges operating in the country to register with the Financial Intelligence a presentation before the panel, the RBI noted that India is poised to remain the fastest-growing major economy in FY26 while flagging downside risks from global financial market volatility and geopolitical tensions. It noted that these posed upside risks to the inflation rating agency S&P Global Ratings recently raised its forecast for India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 6.5% for FY26 from the previous 6.3% assuming a normal monsoon, the impact of income-tax concessions, lower crude oil prices and monetary easing. This projection is in line with the RBI's FY26 GDP forecast of 6.5%.Replying to a question on Rs 2,000 notes by a Congress MP, Malhotra said that these had not been made 'invalid' yet, but they are not in circulation and not being printed. In May 2023, the RBI had announced withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes from circulation. They had been introduced in 2016 as part of the demonetisation exercise to curb black money.
Time of India
17-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Digital Rupee vs Crypto: What the debate misses about the future of money
India is in the midst of a silent revolution in money. On one hand, we have the Digital Rupee , the Reserve Bank of India 's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and on the other, the rapidly growing world of crypto-assets and stablecoins operating on public blockchains. Both are vying to redefine how value is transferred in the digital age. And yet, the ongoing debate—often framed as CBDC vs Crypto—misses the point entirely. Because the real question is not about which technology wins, but who benefits from it. When the debate gets wrong Public discourse often pits the Digital Rupee and crypto against each other—as if they are fundamentally incompatible. The truth is, both are programmable forms of digital money, designed for different purposes, but potentially coexisting in the same future financial system. Crypto Tracker TOP COIN SETS BTC 50 :: ETH 50 -3.77% Buy Smart Contract Tracker -5.49% Buy DeFi Tracker -10.48% Buy Web3 Tracker -10.95% Buy NFT & Metaverse Tracker -12.38% Buy TOP COINS (₹) XRP 193 ( 2.6% ) Buy BNB 56,658 ( 0.59% ) Buy Bitcoin 9,215,509 ( 0.39% ) Buy Ethereum 222,362 ( -1.14% ) Buy Solana 13,227 ( -1.93% ) Buy The Digital Rupee is a sovereign, state-backed currency that retains all the regulatory control of fiat, with some of the benefits of digital settlement—speed, transparency, and auditabilit. Crypto, especially stablecoins and DeFi protocols, represents open, global finance—designed to reduce reliance on intermediaries, enable 24/7 global settlement, and allow innovation at the edges. Did you Know? The world of cryptocurrencies is very dynamic. Prices can go up or down in a matter of seconds. Thus, having reliable answers to such questions is crucial for investors. View Details » But focusing only on the instruments is missing the forest for the trees. What matters most is the end user's experience. Live Events For the user, convenience is king Whether it's a CBDC or a stablecoin, the average Indian citizen wants: Instant settlement Low transaction fees Universal acceptance Interoperability across borders Clear privacy and control over their funds If the Digital Rupee delivers this, it wins. If crypto and stablecoins can do it better, they will continue gaining ground—especially among tech-savvy users, freelancers, SMEs, and NRIs. So far, Digital Rupee usage is modest—with just 19 banks live and around 100,000 daily transactions reported in mid-2024. By comparison, UPI clocks 350 million+ transactions a day, and stablecoins globally settled over $7 trillion in 2023. The bigger problem: Not who builds it, but who controls it Let's zoom out. India built UPI—arguably the most successful public payments infrastructure in the world. But despite being a product of NPCI (a quasi-government entity), UPI adoption is now dominated by three major apps: Google Pay PhonePe (majority owned by Walmart) Paytm (with large foreign ownership) Together, these three control over 94% of UPI transaction volume. So while UPI is Indian in origin, the monetization, data leverage, and platform control rests in the hands of foreign-backed companies. Indian startups in the payments space face high entry barriers, and the market has become increasingly difficult to penetrate due to high compliance, capital, and branding costs. If India repeats the same model with the Digital Rupee—where state infrastructure is handed over to foreign-led platforms for distribution—we will be building Indian rails for global profits, again. India needs a strategic payments agenda To avoid this, India must learn from UPI's journey: Create favorable policies and early access for Indian startups to build on top of the Digital Rupee. Ensure neutral interoperability layers so no single app dominates wallet access or merchant onboarding. Offer incentives and sandboxes for fintechs and Web3 startups to create novel CBDC use cases in sectors like trade, MSME finance, insurance, and mobility. Consider public-private models where infrastructure remains open but innovation is encouraged locally. After all, payments aren't just a technical tool—they are an instrument of economic sovereignty . And whoever controls the interface to money, controls much more than just transactions. It's not Crypto vs CBDC. It's about empowering Indians At the end of the day, the user doesn't care whether their money comes from a central bank node or a smart contract. They care about speed, cost, and usability. A Digital Rupee that settles instantly, works offline, and integrates with UPI? Excellent. A crypto wallet that lets an Indian freelancer receive USD-stablecoins from a US client and cash out into INR at low cost? Also excellent. The key is not to fixate on the rails, but to ensure that the value stays in India, and Indian entrepreneurs are not locked out of building the future. Because if we don't, we risk creating another UPI story—built by India, but controlled by others. And that's a mistake we can't afford to make twice. (The author, Aishwary Gupta is the Global Head of Payments & Real World Assets at Polygon Labs) ( Disclaimer : Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
Mint
10-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Agentic payments are here: Why India needs a rupee-based stablecoin
As the founder of a global payment solutions company, I have a sense of pride when I speak about India's payment systems to our global customers. India has offered 24/7 settlements for all types of payments for years and many nations are only now catching up with it. Our Unified Payments Interface (UPI) stands as a world-class example. In order to retain this leadership position, India needs to be nimble about a new paradigm that is emerging in the global payments landscape: programmable payments. These refer to a type of financial transaction where the execution and conditions of the payment are directly embedded in the software code associated with it. This means pre-set rules that dictate when, how and to whom a payment should be made without requiring manual intervention for each such programmed transaction. This shift towards programmable payments, driven by advancements in blockchain technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and smart contracts, allows for automated transactions triggered by predefined conditions, auditable payments and much else that we cannot fully fathom today. While India has been a trailblazer in real-time payments, we must embrace the opportunity presented by the rise of programmable money to retain our hard-won leadership. Also Read: Defence alert: Crypto is turning into a geopolitical weapon India has already taken initial steps in this direction. The ongoing pilot project of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)—a digital blockchain-based form of a country's official currency issued and regulated by its central bank, representing a direct liability of this monetary authority, like physical banknotes and coins—has programmable features on its test agenda. Further, the National Payments Corporation of India's (NPCI) e-Rupi initiative has demonstrated an ability to issue payments for specific predefined use cases. India is also participating in a global effort by central banks to streamline cross-border payments. However, the global landscape is evolving at a blistering pace. Fuelled by innovations initially explored within blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystems, countries like the US are now rapidly pursuing the widespread adoption of programmable money. They are leapfrogging ahead by leveraging the functionality and flexibility offered by stablecoins—a type of blockchain-based digital asset designed to peg its value to that of a relatively stable-value asset, like a government issued fiat currency. Simultaneously, experiments in tokenization—creating 'digital twins' of real-world assets for these to be managed, transferred and traded more efficiently and transparently—are paving the way for efficiencies in asset ownership and transfer. Also Read: Will India's e-Rupi be a game changer like Kenya's M-Pesa? While the two operate independently today, the convergence of tokenization with programmable payments in the future promises to unlock a truly advanced financial services system. This convergence will enable highly automated, conditional and transparent financial transactions, revolutionizing everything from supply-chain finance to personalized lending. Countries are exploring diverse models for handling the emergence of stablecoins. The models have ranged from light-touch regulation to heavy oversight and span both private and banking-sector issuances of stablecoins. India needs to discern and adopt the model that best suits our financial and regulatory environment. The CBDC is an excellent instrument for some applications, like reducing cash usage and facilitating offline payments. But it may not be the optimal vehicle for enabling a broad-based transition to programmable money. To maintain our leadership position and enable consumers and businesses to fully embrace the potential of programmable money, we must expand our efforts beyond the CBDC's current scope, fostering a wider ecosystem of innovation and adoption. The country needs a stablecoin based on the Indian rupee issued by regulated participants. Also Read: The rupee's digital future is far more relevant than its domestic heritage India's framework of capital controls presents a challenge and an opportunity as we make this leap into programmable payments. Capital controls create a complex set of constraints in implementing such a transformative programme. At the same time, the architecture of programmable payments can streamline compliance, enhance real- time monitoring capabilities and enable better enforcement of our capital controls with substantially lesser friction. The transition to programmable money will require substantial investment from commercial banks to upgrade their existing infrastructure. This investment dovetails well with the underlying shift to a world dominated by artificial intelligence. The emerging 'agentic world,' where autonomous AI agents will increasingly manage tasks and transactions, will demand 'agentic payments'—transfers that are not merely small, fast and low-cost, but intelligent, conditional and capable of being executed autonomously by these task-oriented AI bots. This symbiotic relationship underscores the urgency and strategic importance of broad-basing our efforts in the field of programmable money. The future of finance is being written by tokenization and AI with programmable money as a foundational element. If India is to maintain and fortify its leadership in the global payments landscape, we must think and act swiftly to enable an Indian rupee- based stablecoin and facilitate the adoption of programmable payments. The author is the founder and CEO of Pay3.
Time of India
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Digital ‘9/11' is coming: Living Nostradamus warns of US civil war, digital currency, and economic collapse
US to face economic ruin and 'slow motion Civil War' Live Events 'Digital 9/11' and high-profile arrests Trump's moves seen as calculated 'chess pieces' A global order led by the unseen China, Taiwan, and the brewing military crisis The rise of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel A man known as the 'Living Nostradamus' has issued a stark warning about the next three years. Athos Salomé, a 38-year-old Brazilian mystic, says the world is heading towards a period of economic collapse, political chaos, and shadowy global claims to have predicted past global events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's war in Ukraine, and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. He has now shared a set of disturbing forecasts with the Express, pointing to major upheaval between now and to Salomé, the most severe disruptions will take place in the United States. He foresees a large-scale financial collapse triggering instability across the said, 'A slow motion civil war will begin in the US, followed by a mega cyber-attack which will be blamed on China or Russia.'This breakdown, he warns, will not be limited to protests or economic hardship. Instead, it may include a 'Martial Law Light' scenario where militias and radical groups enforce new emergency rules under state control. Salomé also suggested that such a crisis would be 'used to justify censorship and military escalation'.Salomé warns of a staged cyber event on American soil—something he calls a 'false flag attack'. He described it as a 'digital 9/11' in which power grids, banking systems, and internet services could be disrupted for the public reels from the effects, Salomé says new political and military controls will be introduced under the guise of also predicts a dramatic political twist: the arrest of a former US President. 'High probability events between 2024 and 2028 could include the arrest of a former American president – most likely Obama or Bush – on charges of international corruption,' he told the mystic described Donald Trump's years in office as deliberately strategic. He claimed, 'Trump's slew of executive orders since taking office were chess moves that would have long-lasting repercussions for the invisible bureaucratic machine that has been dictating the direction of the US for decades.'Salomé suggested that Trump's ongoing battle with the so-called 'Deep State' could even result in impeachment if he pushes too far. Yet, in his view, Trump is not the only piece on the board. Larger, invisible powers are quietly repositioning the the United States, Salomé painted a larger picture of how global governance is shifting in warned that traditional political leaders may no longer be the ones in charge. Instead, he believes 'invisible transnational groups' are taking control behind the scenes.'While the news repeats localised scandals, the global structure continues to be redesigned,' Salomé said. 'History is written by those who have the pen. And most people don't even know where the ink is.'He called this a period of 'parallel governance', where real power is increasingly exercised away from public scrutiny or democratic Asia, Salomé predicted another flashpoint: a potential invasion of Taiwan by China. He claimed that the United States would likely respond with both cyber and naval action, intensifying the confrontation between global also warned: 'China is waiting for the right moment to strike Europe and America.'According to Salomé, these actions won't necessarily look like traditional warfare. Instead, they may unfold as hybrid campaigns—technological, economic, and one of his most provocative claims concerns the future of predicted that between 2026 and 2027, the US dollar will face what he calls a 'profound shake-up', deliberately triggered by domestic forces. This, he says, will be used to justify the rollout of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).'The crash will be presented as an accident. In reality, it will be a technological reset with a political purpose [leading to] the choreographed collapse of the global financial system,' he told the believes this financial shift is not accidental but planned—a 'reset' designed to rewire how money, power, and influence operate Salomé, the decade ahead is already being shaped by what he calls invisible wars . These conflicts, he says, are 'hybrid, undeclared, and fuelled by orchestrated actions on multiple fronts.'He does not describe this as fantasy or conspiracy—but as a new normal.'It's no longer about conspiracy. It's about parallel governance,' he said. 'The reset is real. We are entering a new era – digital, surveilled, economically redefined – and those who don't understand the rules of the new game will just be pieces.'
