New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will launch the nation’s first digital rupee pilot project for the wholesale segment today.
For the wholesale segment, the pilot will test the settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. Nine banks—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—will participate in the pilot.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech on February 1 had announced that RBI will launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in this fiscal.
CBDC is a digital form of currency notes issued by a central bank.
Digital currency or rupee is an electronic form of money, that can be used in contactless transactions.