The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das expressed confidence that digital currency or Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will make cross-border payments more efficient and fast, in addition to being cost-effective. The digital currency was launched in India on a pilot basis, both in the wholesale and retail categories, in November-December 2022.
He said ‘The greatest advantage of CBDC will be cross-border payments internationally. International cross-border payments will become far more efficient, faster, and very very cost-effective. As and when other countries adopt this digital currency, international payment systems will gain in efficiency, speed, and cost. And ultimately, it’s a new technology which is developing and I think it’s going to be the future of money’.
The RBI Governor said that the countrywide launch will depend on the success, the learnings, and the fine-tuning of the pilot version. He said ‘So that is the distance we have to cover’. He added ‘But we have no target date…We are not in any undue hurry or rush to implement it full scale because after it is a currency, its safety, integrity, and efficiency have to be ensured.’ In the retail segment, there are at present about 4 million users and 0.4 million merchants who have been onboarded.