NL CORESSPONDENT
The Reserve Bank will launch the first pilot for retail digital rupee in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar on December 1, and later
expand it to nine more cities in the initial phase. This follows a month after the RBI had started a pilot in the digital rupee – wholesale segment on
November 1. The Reserve Bank announces the launch of the first pilot for retail digital rupee (e?-R) on December 1, 2022, the central bank said
in a statement on Tuesday. The first phase of retail digital rupee will begin with four banks — State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and
IDFC First Bank in four cities across the country, it said.
“The digital rupee would be in the form of a digital token that represents legal tender. It would be issued in the same
denominations that paper currency and coins are currently issued,” the RBI said while announcing operationalisation of Central Bank
Digital Currency – Retail Pilot from December 1. CBDC is a digital form of currency notes issued by a central bank.While most
central banks across the globe are exploring the issuance of CBDC, the key motivations for its issuance are specific to each
country's unique requirements.
