RBI's digital rupee a game changer: SBI Chairman
New Delhi, December 3: SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara on Saturday called the Reserve Bank of India's retail digital rupee pilot project a "game changer" and added that it will have long-lasting effects that will ensure better monetary transmission at much lower costs.
"The anonymity factor is critical for its acceptance. It collaborates, complements and completes the currency architecture in vogue, while also incubating further innovation," Khara.
The launch of a closed user group digital rupee retail pilot was announced by the RBI on Thursday.
According to a video clip the Reserve Bank of India posted on social media the day of the launch, citizens will be able to send and receive payments in currency entirely digitally using a mobile app by using the token-based digital rupee.
A few cities with specific banks will be covered by the pilot.
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Transactions can be both person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M). Payments to merchants can be made using quick response (QR) codes displayed at merchant locations, according to the RBI statement released before the launch.
According to the central bank, eight banks have been identified for phase-wise participation in this pilot. The first phase will begin with four banks, namely State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank in four cities across the country. Four more banks, namely Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank will join this pilot subsequently.
RBI said the pilot would initially cover four cities, namely, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar and later extend to Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla.
- ANI
