The Reserve Bank of India on 31st October 2022, has decided to launch its first pilot in the Digital Rupee – Wholesale segment (e₹-W) on November 1, 2022 and it will soon commence pilot launches of Digital Rupee (e₹) for other specific use cases.
The use of e₹-W is expected to make the inter-bank market more efficient. Settlement in central bank money would reduce transaction costs by pre-empting the need for settlement guarantee infrastructure or for collateral to mitigate settlement risk. Going forward, other wholesale transactions, and cross-border payments will be the focus of future pilots, based on the learnings from this pilot.
The first pilot in Digital Rupee – Retail segment (e₹-R) is planned for launch within a month in select locations in closed user groups comprising customers and merchants. The details regarding operationalisation of e₹-R pilot shall be communicated in due course.
