The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted 4 banks, within the preliminary segment of a pilot programmer, to promote the virtual rupee. These banks are — State Bank of India, Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, and IDFC First Bank. Four more banks — Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank — are predicted to enroll in this pilot programmer quickly.
The RBI began the pilot of digital or e-rupee in 4 towns such as — Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar. In the days to come, the service will be to be had in a few more towns. Cities which might be anticipated to get get right of entry to to e-rupee in the subsequent phase are – Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna, and Shimla.
On December 1, the RBI rolled out the first retail virtual Rupee pilot, a month after it launched a wholesale CBDC pilot for buying and selling in authorities’ bonds.
Digital rupee: Key capabilities
The virtual rupee comes inside the form of a virtual token that represents legal tender and is issued inside the same denominations that paper foreign money and coins are being issued. In simple phrases, e-rupee or digital forex is only a digital form of paper money, because of this that the price of the digital rupee and paper money are the same. According to the RBI, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is the RBI’s legitimate shape of currency. The regulator clarified that the CBDC, also called the virtual rupee, is interchangeable one-to-one at par with the fiat forex and is the same as a sovereign foreign money.
Is virtual rupee same as cryptocurrency?
No. The virtual rupee and cryptocurrency are in no manner connected to each other. Cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain; however, it isn’t the case with CBDC. The most important concept behind launching the e-rupee become to get rid of paper cash from the market finally. Another aspect in which a cryptocurrency and a digital rupee do not suit is the valuation. Cryptos are driven with the aid of market demand and their price changes on occasion relying available on the market conditions. However, the value of the e-rupee stays the same, similar to coins money.
Can virtual rupee be transferred to family and pals?
One can without difficulty switch virtual cash to friends or own family just as bodily forex. The best requirement is that both the sender and receiver transacting ought to have a digital pocket for the transaction.