New Delhi, November 30
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday announced the pilot launch of retail digital rupee (eRs -R) from December 1 at select locations in closed user groups of participating customers and merchants.
The pilot would initially cover four cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar. It will later be extended to Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla.
The first phase will begin with four banks — SBI, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar. Four more banks — Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank — will subsequently join this pilot.
Called Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the digital rupee is a digital form of currency notes issued by the RBI which can be used in contactless transactions.
