RBI aims to expand ongoing CBDC pilots to include more banks and locations

As per the annual report of the Reserve Bank of India released on May 30, it intends to expand the ongoing pilot of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by incorporating use cases.  

"During 2023-24, the Reserve Bank of India aims at expanding the ongoing pilots in CBDC-Retail and CBDC-Wholesale by incorporating various use cases and features," the report said.

The central bank is aiming to expand both the pilot of wholesale as well as retail CBDC to more locations and to include more participating banks, according to the report.

On October 31, 2022, RBI had launched its first pilot of digital rupee in the wholesale segment and identified nine banks to participate which includes State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC.

A month later, RBI, on December 1, 2022, kick-started the pilot for the retail version of the CBDC, or digital rupee.

People can use the retail digital rupee, or e₹-R for day-to-day transactions.

Eight banks are participating in the retail pilot project, including State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, BOB, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Under the pilot project, banks can invite selective customers and merchants who can try the services through their mobile applications. After this, these users can make peer-to-peer transactions and peer-to-merchant transactions.

Users can deposit a certain amount in the digital wallet of the digital rupee mobile application. The digital wallet works in the same way as a normal wallet. The next step for the user to make payments is to scan the QR code of the receiver and enter the amount that is to be transferred. After this, the receiver’s digital wallet will show the amount credited whereas the sender’s wallet will have the amount debited.