India will start testing the digital rupee in retail starting December

The tests will begin in four cities across the country and later expand to other regions

29.11.2022 - 15:15

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What’s new? The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the start date of the digital rupee tests in retail. According to a press release, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot will be launched as early as December 1 for a closed group of testers, including customers and merchants.

The bank’s press release

What is known about the project? The central bank will be the issuer of the digital rupee, then CBDC will be distributed through intermediary banks, which will also offer digital currency wallets to citizens. The project envisages both P2P transactions and QR codes to make payments in merchant locations.

The digital rupee will become legal tender on a par with cash currency and will be issued in the same denominations as fiat. It will also be possible to convert CBDC to other forms of money, such as bank deposits.

IDFC First Bank, State Bank of India, Yes Bank, and ICICI Bank have already joined the project. In December, pilot testing will take place in four cities: New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. More cities and financial institutions will join the project in the future.

India’s regulator announced the launch of the digital rupee pilot back in October. At the time, RBI noted that digital currency would be used for both retail and wholesale payments.

In October, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates reported the successful completion of testing transactions using CBDC with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Bank of Thailand, the People’s Bank of China, and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). In November, People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said that the digital yuan would enable users to maintain “managed anonymity.”

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