RBI To Launch Digital Currency From Dec. 1

Delhi/Hyderabad, Nov 29 (Maxim News): Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the launch of India’s much awaited Central bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a sort of official cryptocurrency, for retail users from December 1.

The first phase of a pilot project that will cover select locations and banks in a closed user group comprising participating customers and merchants said the RBI. The pilot project will initially cover the four cities of Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar, where customers and merchants will be able to use the digital rupee or e-rupee. four banks will be involved in the controlled launch of the digital currency in these four cities. State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank.

The service will be subsequently extended to the cities of Ahmedabad, Gangtok, guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla. four more banks, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank will join the pilot, said the RBI. The scope of the pilot may be expanded gradually to include more banks, users and locations as needed, it said.

The retail e-rupee will be an electronic version of cash, and will be primarily meant for retail transactions. It will be potentially available for use by all – the private sector, non-financial consumers and businesses — and will be able to provide access to safe money for payment and settlement, as it will be the direct liability central bank.

The RBI said “CBDC is the legal tender issued by a Central bank in a digital form. It is the same as the fiat currency and is exchangeable one-to-one with the fiat currency. Only its form is different.”. e-R would be in the form of a digital token that represents legal tender. It will be issued in the same denominations as paper currency and coins and will be distributed through intermediaries i.e. banks. (Maxim News)

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