Three bankers told Reuters on Wednesday that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked a larger group of institutions to participate in its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot programme in order to expedite transactions.
By the end of 2010, almost 20 central banks in developing and developed economies are expected to be using digital currencies, according to research issued on Monday by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The RBI started testing CBDC, also known as e-rupees, in the wholesale and retail sectors last year.
Major public and private financial institutions are now taking part in the trial, including the State Bank of India, Baroda Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Yes Bank.
The state-owned bank stated at a meeting with RBI officials on Tuesday that “the RBI has asked smaller banks to either work with Fintech companies or evolve their systems to start piloting CBDCs this year.” stated technical director.
We must now find interested Fintech partners and hold a tender to determine the associated expenses. We anticipate that this procedure will take four to five months.
Because they weren’t authorised to talk to the media, the bankers didn’t want their names to be used. By the end of this year, the RBI hopes to meet its goal of one million CBDC transactions daily, according to Deputy Governor T. Ravi Shankar.
By June 2023, 1.3 million clients and 300,000 businesses would be utilising CBDC, according to him.
According to a bank employee at another state-owned bank, “the RBI hopes to find out if there are problems with implementation and conduct the pilot with a large user base by getting more banks to participate in the pilot.” I’m contemplating,” he added.
“We are now well along with the RBI’s acceptance of our CBDC pilot application. The approval is anticipated within the next two months.
According to bankers, the central bank has requested smaller banks to get input from larger banks that are actively engaged in trial initiatives. An email from Reuters seeking comment did not get a prompt response from the RBI.
If the RBI encounters any issues, it will include practically all the banks to broaden the consumer base. The deployment of the next phase of digital currency is on the Board.
