Google Pay, Walmart-supported PhonePe, and Amazon Pay are among five payment companies looking to participate in the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) digital currency trial by facilitating e-rupee transactions, according to three insiders involved in the discussions.

Indian fintech companies Cred and Mobikwik have also applied to join the trial, the sources mentioned.

The RBI launched the e-rupee pilot, a digital alternative to physical currency, in December 2022. Despite an initial increase in transactions, the use of the e-rupee has dropped, reflecting the global challenge central banks face in promoting digital currencies.

Google Pay and Amazon Pay, payment applications from Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Amazon.com, respectively, enable retail payments via India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Initially, the RBI only allowed banks to offer e-rupee transactions through their mobile apps. However, in April, it announced that payment companies could also offer e-rupee transactions on their platforms once approved.

These payment firms are working closely with the RBI and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the domestic payments authority, and are expected to provide access to the e-rupee in the next three to four months, the sources said. The sources spoke anonymously as they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The RBI and NPCI did not respond to emails seeking comments, and the five companies declined to comment.

E-rupee transactions had surged to over one million per day late last year but have since dropped to about 100,000 to 200,000 daily, one source noted. Allowing popular payment companies to offer e-rupee transactions is expected to increase usage by broadening the user base, another source added.

Together, these five payment companies handle over 85% of digital payments via UPI, which averages about 13 billion transactions each month.

Despite efforts to popularize the e-rupee, the central bank does not plan to fully launch the digital currency immediately, the source said. "The e-rupee is likely to remain in the pilot stage for the next couple of years", the source concluded.