Difference between e rupi and cryptocurrency
The Indian government has introduced a new type of payment digital and cashless payment method called e rupi. The prime minister of India Narendra Modi has introduced this digital payment system via video conference. Created and developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), e rupi has a one-time payment mechanism that will help the user to redeem vouchers without internet banking, digital payment applications or even a card.
What is e rupi?
E rupi is contactless and cashless in terms of use. The whole system is developed on the UPI platform of NPCI in collaboration with the Indian National Health Authority, the country’s Ministry for Health and Family Welfare, and the nation’s Department of Financial Services. This particular approach is taken to strengthen the payment security system and take it one step ahead. The system itself ensures that the service provider gets the money after the transaction is totally completed. The Indian rupee is working as a base asset for this newly introduced payment system. It is not linked with any kind of virtual currency.
How does e rupi work?
According to the information provided by the government, e rupi will provide leakproof services to ensure the safety of the welfare. Other government schemes such as fertiliser subsidies, TB eradication programmes, drugs & diagnostics under schemes like Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Mother and Child welfare schemes, etc. are also linked with the project. This unique payment system can be used to deliver community services meant for providing drugs and nutritional support under the respective government schemes. The government furthermore stated that the private sector could also purchase these e-vouchers to aid their employee welfare and corporate social responsibility programmes.
E rupi will be delivered to the beneficiaries in the form of SMS string and QR codes. It will be like a prepaid gift voucher that can be accepted at various places; neither debit /credit cards nor internet banking will be required for accepting the vouchers. E rupi will directly connect the beneficiaries with the service providers in the digital platform, and no physical interference will be necessary.
How different is it from crypto?
There is no similarity between cryptocurrency and e rupi. Cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain technology, and they are a group of virtual currencies much different from fiat currencies. The base of e rupi technology is the Indian rupee itself. The Indian rupee is the underlying asset for the new technology and therefore linked with a fiat currency.
e rupi will be blockchain
The Indian government has not yet announced that the e rupi will be linked with blockchain or anything similar. The current deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), T Rabi Sankar, has stated the importance of CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) in the upcoming years.
We do not know how impactful e rupi would be in the upcoming years, so we will have to wait and see.
