The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is aiming for a phased execution strategy for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for which the navigation will be introduced by the year-end. “The Reserve Bank of India may launch its first digital currency trial programs by December,” said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das in an interview with CNBC.
“We are being extremely careful about it because it’s completely a new product, not just for RBI, but globally,” Das said in an interaction with the international business news channel on Thursday. “I think by the end of the year, we should be able to — we would be in a position, perhaps — to start our first trials,” he added.
As per the governor’s saying, the RBI is analysing the different dimensions of digital currency with its security, impact on India’s financial sector as well as how it would affect monetary policy and currency in circulation, according to the governor.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are considered as the newly introduced digital or virtual currencies. These digital currencies are meted out to the public in a digital/ electronic form of fiat currencies. This form is accepted as the domestic currency rupee in India.
Previously, RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar quoted that the central bank is working on a phased implementation strategy for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and examining use cases to ensure that there is little or no disruption.
“They are not commodities or claims on commodities as they have no intrinsic value; some claims that they are akin to gold clearly seem opportunistic,” he averred, adding further that a CBDC is the same as a currency issued by a central bank but takes a different form than paper.
