The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is reportedly in the final stages of rolling out the retail version of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the digital rupee.
The retail CBDC will be compatible with existing payment systems. The RBI launched the CBDC wholesale version on November 1. CBDC was used in 48 transactions totaling INR 275 crore on the first day. Customers and merchants will be asked to download a wallet to store the digital rupee, after which they will be able to request denominations from their banks. The retail CBDC pilot includes eight banks (SBI, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, Yes Bank, and IDFC First).
