Informist, Sunday, Sep 10, 2023

NEW DELHI - The Reserve Bank of India is looking to launch the wholesale digital rupee pilot for the interbank call market by October, the central bank's Executive Director Ajay Kumar Choudhary said today.

The RBI is currently testing the digital rupee for the call market and will launch it either end of this month or next month, Choudhary said on the sidelines of the ongoing G20 Leaders' Summit here.

The wholesale e-rupee pilot for the call money market will involve the same nine banks as the ongoing pilot for government securities market, he said.

The central bank had launched the digital rupee pilot project in the wholesale segment on Nov 1, with State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC as the participants.

The pilot for the retail segment was launched on Dec 1. The retail e-rupee pilot is currently being operated through 13 banks across 26 cities.

On expanding the scope of the e-rupee pilot for the gilts market, Choudhary said two more banks have shown interest in the pilot and the central bank is considering the proposal.

Last week, Informist had reported, citing an RBI source, that the central bank is looking to roll out the wholesale digital currency in the call money market.

At the Global Fintech Fest on Wednesday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said the central bank plans to test some more use cases of the wholesale digital currency going forward.

About the future of the digital currency, Choudhary said there are many possibilities like allowing corporates to utilise the e-rupee, and not just banks.

When asked about the low volume in the gilts e-rupee pilot, the executive director said the central bank is not concerned about the pilot as much as the operational side of the pilot.  End

Reported by Shubham Rana and Krity Ambey

Edited by Vandana Hingorani 

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