NEW DELHI, March 4 (Reuters) - Indian startup Mintoak,

which provides merchant payment services to lenders, said on

Tuesday it has bought Digiledge, marking the first acquisition

in the nascent central bank digital currency space in a deal

that sources said was worth around $3.5 million.

The Reserve Bank of India started a pilot for the CBDC, or

e-rupee, a digital alternative to physical currency, in December

2022, and last April, it expanded the scope of transactions to

payment firms from having limited it to just banks initially.

PayPal ( PYPL ) and HDFC Bank backed Mintoak has

completed the acquisition of Digiledge, which specialises in

CBDC and bill payments services, said two sources aware of the

matter, declining to be identified as they are not authorised to

speak with the media.

The deal will enable Mintoak's partner banks, which include

HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and SBI, to offer more

comprehensive CBDC-related payment solutions to their clients,

Mumbai-based Mintoak said.

"By adding Digiledge's bill payments and CBDC capabilities,

we are making it easier for merchant acquirers to grow and help

more small and medium enterprises access digital tools and

financial services," Mintoak CEO Raman Khanduja said.

In January, Cred and MobiKwik became the first

fintech platforms to give customers access to the CBDC.

Alphabet's Google Pay, Walmart ( WMT )-backed

PhonePe and Amazon Pay are among the payment firms

seeking to join the pilot, Reuters reported in August 2024.