RBI to launch first pilot of retail digital rupee in 4 cities on Dec 1
Mumbai, Nov 30: The Reserve Bank will launch the first pilot for retail digital rupee (e?-R) in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar on December 1, and later expand it to nine more cities in the initial phase.
This follows a month after the RBI had started a pilot in the digital rupee - wholesale segment on November 1.
The Reserve Bank announces the launch of the first pilot for retail digital rupee (e?-R) on December 1, 2022, the central bank said in a statement on Tuesday.
The first phase of retail digital rupee will begin with four banks -- State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank in four cities across the country, it said.
"The e?-R would be in the form of a digital token that represents legal tender. It would be issued in the same denominations that paper currency and coins are currently issued," the RBI said while announcing operationalisation of Central Bank Digital Currency Retail (e?-R) Pilot from December 1.
CBDC is a digital form of currency notes issued by a central bank. While most central banks across the globe are exploring the issuance of CBDC, the key motivations for its issuance are specific to each country's unique requirements.
The digital rupee would be distributed through intermediaries (banks).
RBI said users will be able to transact with e?-R through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and stored on mobile phones/devices.
Transactions can be both Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M). Payments to merchants can be made using QR codes displayed at merchant locations.
The e?-R would offer features of physical cash like trust, safety and settlement finality.
"As in the case of cash, it will not earn any interest and can be converted to other forms of money, like deposits with banks," the central bank said.
The pilot, it said, will test the robustness of the entire process of digital rupee creation, distribution and retail usage in real time.
Different features and applications of the e?-R token and architecture will be tested in future pilots, based on the learnings from this pilot.
It further said the pilot would cover select locations in closed user group (CUG) comprising participating customers and merchants.
Eight banks have been identified for phase-wise participation in the pilot.
After State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank, four more banks -- Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank -- will join the pilot subsequently.
The other nine cities to which the pilot will be later extended are: Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla.
The scope of pilot may be expanded gradually to include more banks, users and locations as needed, the Reserve Bank added.
Last month, the RBI had said digital rupee - wholesale will help in reducing transaction costs by pre-empting the need for settlement guarantee infrastructure or for collateral to mitigate settlement risk.
The government of India had announced the launch of the digital rupee from fiscal year 2022-23 onwards in the Union Budget tabled in Parliament on February 1, 2022.
In a recent concept note on Central Bank Digital Currency, the RBI said CBDC is aimed to complement, rather than replace, current forms of money and is envisaged to provide an additional payment avenue to users, not to replace the existing payment systems.
Across the globe, more than 60 central banks have expressed interest in CBDCs with a few implementations already under pilot across both retail and wholesale categories and many others are researching, testing, and/or launching their own CBDC framework.
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Whoever wins heart of Gandhi family in Congress will become CM: Basavaraj Bommai
Gadag: In Congress, whoever wins the hearts of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi will become the Chief Minister. This is a shame for the democratic system, said former Chief Minister and MP Basavaraj Bommai.
Speaking to the media in Gadag, he said there is a clash among leaders due to excessive desire for power. Cabinet ministers are trying to retain their positions. Some leaders are demanding ministerial posts saying they have won elections multiple times, while newcomers are also seeking ministerial positions. He added that the Chief Minister is trying to retain his position.
Bommai said Mallikarjun Kharge is a senior leader and feels he should have been given the Chief Minister post fairly.
He further said that Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar function as the high command, referring to Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, and added that Congress is a family-based party. He reiterated that whoever wins the support of Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi becomes the Chief Minister, calling it a shame for the democratic system and alleging that the party has weakened internal democracy.
Responding to a question about allegations that officials in the government are not working, he said, “The people who made them are angry. The Congress has cheated the people who elected them. The government is completely at a standstill. No work has been done. About Rs 14,000 crores provided in Siddaramaiah's last budget have not been used. About Rs 10,000 crores were not used in the year before that either. How will the officials work if there is political conflict? If the CM says one thing and the DCM says another, this government has completely come to a standstill in the eyes of the people.”
