An Indian bus ticket online portal started accepting payments in bitcoin through the partnership with an Indian bitcoin platform Unocoin.

 eTravelSmart is the first online platform in India to accept bitcoin payments for bus ticket purchases. The service is fully regulated, states the notice on the eTravelSmart website. The portal has announced a discount of 100 Indian Rupees for every purchase in bitcoin. The users just need to choose the bitcoin payment option while booking their ticket.

“We are proud that, from today, all our customers across India can book bus tickets using bitcoin payments,” the page reads.

Unocoin is a popular Indian bitcoin exchange service that launched in Bangalore in 2013 after receiving an investment from CoinMonk Ventures Private Limited. The start-up provides wallets with BTC and INR accounts for the users who complete the registration and verify their account on the company’s website. In April, Unocoin introduced Systematic Investment Plan, a new feature that allows users to acquire bitcoin on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. Coinfox reported earlier that Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO of Unocoin had been interrogated about bitcoin and Unocoin by the Indian authorities.

India has a thriving and promising ecosystem of bitcoin start-ups and a favourable regulatory climate. In December 2014, the governor of India’s Reserve Bank Raghuram Rajan called bitcoin “fascinating” during a discussion broadcast on Indian television, although he also expressed concerns about its security and volatility. He did not reject the idea of bitcoin being adopted by the central banks. FlipKart, one of India's major online retailers is likely to integrate bitcoin payments, following the example of the global giants like PayPal and Expedia. 

In January 2015, another Indian bitcoin wallet, Zebpay launched an app for Android that supports bitcoin use on daily basis.

Aliona Chapel