RBI to launch first digital rupee pilot phase in which nine banks took part. The project is planned to be launched within a month in select locations.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced on Monday that a pilot project for the Digital Rupee Retail segment will be launched within a month in select locations with the closed customer and merchant groups.ups. 

Nine banks will take part in the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) first digital rupee pilot, which took part on November 1. In its announcement of the launch, the central bank stated that settlement in central bank money will lower transaction costs by avoiding the need for infrastructure for settlement guarantee or for collateral to decrease settlement risk. ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda took part in the Reserve Bank's first Digital Rupee pilot program for the exchange of government securities. Additionally, other banks involved in the initiative were State Bank of India, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, HDFC Bank, Union Bank of India, HSBC, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

According to the RBI, future pilots will concentrate on other wholesale transactions, including international payments. The outcomes of the initial pilot will be taken into consideration. According to them, 48 deals totaling 275 crores were made with Digital Rupee. 

The launch of the Digital Rupee for the fiscal year 2022–2023 was announced by the government in the Union Budget that was presented to Parliament in February of this year. The Indian central bank released a paper earlier this month outlining several characteristics and hazards of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). According to the Geoeconomic Centre of the Atlantic Council, 105 nations representing more than 95% of the world's GDP are now investigating a CBDC.

Nine out of every ten central banks worldwide are looking into CBDCs, according to a report published in May by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). More than 60 central banks have expressed interest in CBDCs globally, and some have introduced them as part of trial initiatives in the retail and wholesale sectors. Numerous other people are developing, evaluating, and/or introducing their own CBDC framework.