RBI to Begin Pilot of Digital Rupee on November 1 With Participation From 9 Banks

The RBI has been exploring the pros and cons of a central bank digital currency for some time.

By Reuters | Updated: 31 October 2022 18:02 IST

RBI to Begin Pilot of Digital Rupee on November 1 With Participation From 9 Banks

RBI's plans for a currency in digital form comes amid its staunch opposition of cryptocurrencies

Highlights

Nine banks have been identified for participation in the pilot
Banks including SBI will participate in the project
RBI has been exploring pros and cons of a digital currency for some time

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will launch the pilot for a central-bank-backed digital rupee for the wholesale segment on November 1, it said on Monday, identifying nine banks, including top lender State Bank of India, to participate in the project.

The pilot's use case will be to settle secondary market transactions in government securities, with the e-rupee expected to make the interbank market more efficient, the RBI said in a statement.

Settlements in central bank digital currency would reduce transaction costs, the RBI added.

Samsung Wins Patent for a Tri-Fold Smartphone With Specialised Barrier Layer for Improved Durability

Besides SBI, the pilot will include Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC, the RBI said.

The launch of the e-rupee for the retail segment is planned within a month in select locations, the RBI added.

The RBI has been exploring the pros and cons of a central bank digital currency for some time and is working towards a strategy to implement it in a phased manner, it said earlier this month.

Twitter Plans to Lay Off a Quarter of Its Workforce in First Round: Report

The central bank's plans for a currency in digital form comes amid its staunch opposition of cryptocurrencies.

The announcement comes a few days after it was reported that China's digital yuan took the centre stage in the world's largest cross-border central bank digital currency (CBDC) trial to date, a report showed, pointing to how Beijing is speeding up yuan globalization efforts amid rising geopolitical tensions.

China's digital currency, or e-CNY, was the most issued, and actively transacted token in the $22 million pilot that used CBDCs to settle cross-border trades, a Bank of International Settlement (BIS) report showed.

The six-week test, which ended late last month, is part of m-Bridge - a project that pilots cross-border payments in digital currencies issued by central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.

The successful completion of the large-scale testing comes amid rising global tensions.

What are the best smartphones you can buy in India under Rs. 30,000? There are a handful of options that we've discussed on this week's episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.