Retail e-rupee trials this month: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

New Delhi, November 2

The RBI will conduct a trial of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or e-rupee on the retail side this month itself, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday.

The RBI started a pilot of the e-rupee on the wholesale side on Tuesday.

Not in hurry

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I don’t want to give a target date by which time the CBDC will be launched in a full-scale manner because this is something where we have to proceed very carefully. This is the first time the world is doing it. We don’t want to be in a great hurry. Shaktikanta Das, RBI Governor

“The retail part of the CBDC trial will be launched later during this month. We will announce the date separately,” he said while speaking at an annual conference of bankers in Mumbai.

“I don’t want to give a target date by which time the CBDC will be launched in a full-scale manner because this is something where we have to proceed very carefully. This is the first time the world is doing it. We don’t want to be in a great hurry. There will be some technological challenges, some process challenges and the RBI will want to iron out all those aspects and introduce the CBDC in a manner that is non-disruptive,” he pointed out.

The RBI chief also spoke on the pilot project on digitisation of farm loans (end-to-end digital kisan credit card) and hoped that it would expand into a full-fledged operation by next year. Under the pilot, the bank processes data from the credit rating agencies, uses artificial intelligence to process satellite data to analyse a farmer’s land and what was cultivated in that land in the previous years. The documentation process is also simple and the farmer has to visit a bank branch a minimum number of times, claim officials.

The RBI is working closely with banks on the initiative, he said, adding that banks also have to upgrade their technology infrastructure to make such a project happen. Currently, the Federal Bank and Central Bank of India are involved in the initiative.

He said the state governments need to completely digitise their land records and the process of verification of the title for the scheme to function smoothly.