The Reserve Bank on Tuesday said it will launch the first pilot for retail digital rupee (e₹-R) on December 1, 2022, in which four banks including SBI and ICICI Bank will participate initially. On 1 November, the RBI launched the first pilot in the digital rupee – the wholesale segment. Announcing the conduct of the Central Bank Digital Currency – Retail (e₹-R) pilot, the RBI said the pilot will cover select locations in the Closed User Groups (CUG) of participating customers and merchants.
“The E-R will be in the form of a digital token representing legal tender. It will be issued in the same denominations that paper currency and coins are issued at present,” it said. It will be distributed through banks and users will be able to transact with e-R through digital wallets offered by participating banks and stored on mobile phones/devices.
Transactions can be both Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M). RBI further said that e-R will offer the same features as physical cash such as trust, security and finality of settlement. “In the case of cash, it will not earn any interest and can be converted into other forms of money, such as deposits with banks,” the central bank said. The pilot will initially cover four cities – Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar.
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