Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), announced that he hopes to see 1 million retail users join the e-rupee Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) trial by the end of June
This is a significant increase from the low adoption rate that the e-rupee faced last year.
The e-rupee pilot program consists of two phases: a wholesale phase that started on November 1, 2022, and allowed interbank transactions using the digital currency, and a retail phase that launched on December 1, 2022, and enabled individual users to make payments with the e-rupee.
According to Pankaj Chaudhary, the Union Minister of State for Finance, both phases will be gradually scaled up based on the feedback received from the banks, users, and locations involved.
Das also shared his optimism about the pilot’s potential, stating, “CBDC is going to be the future of money.”
He added that the next step for the interbank phase is to create a central bank network that would facilitate cross-border transactions.