A CBDC wallet will now be available via non-payment operators, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The Indian central bank, RBI, has stated that its CBDC wallet will accept more suppliers. A key point of the bank’s announcement is its intention to allow non-payment operators to provide CBDC wallet services. Due to the initiative’s anticipated improvement in access and user options, the bank has said that it would implement the necessary improvements to enable this.
In a statement on developmental and regulatory policies, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) discussed recent changes to its financial sector laws and other recent events. The involvement of non-payment operators in the allocation of the bank’s CBDC was also detailed in the announcement. The CBDC’s retail and wholesale components are now the subject of a pilot test, the bank said.
By adding new use cases and participating institutions, the Reserve Bank of India has expanded the test’s scope, as it has also verified. The RBI also said that the inclusion of non-payment operators was an effort to make the retail CBDC accessible to a larger range of customers on an ongoing basis. In addition to putting the system through its paces with many transactions, this change will provide users with additional freedom of choice and access.
In November 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) began testing the digital rupee in the wholesale market. In December of the same year, it began testing it in the retail market. The Reserve Bank of India’s Deputy Governor addressed the high number of transactions in a later announcement. Thanks to its compatibility with UPI, India’s rapid payment system, the number of transactions reached one million in December 2023. But since then, he said, volumes have been rising slowly.
The total number of transactions has exceeded 22 million since the pilot test began in December 2022 and it is still going strong today. Over the same time period, over 400,000 businesses have helped out with the project, and over 4.6 million users have joined. Due to the small number of CBDC-accepting businesses, the majority of transactions have taken place between individuals. Since the majority of retailers have begun accepting it, there has also been a dramatic change in the retail CBDC market.
In light of the achievements, the RBI has declared its intention to include further features. The bank had previously stated in February that it would be expanding to programmable payments and offline functions. The first formal payment for agricultural goods was received by a farmer, and programmable payments have kicked off, although offline payments are still being tested internally.
The fact that crypto assets cannot be cryptocurrencies is evidence that crypto rules in India are still a major concern, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The minister did say that although there isn’t any legislation regarding cryptocurrency just now, she could see a framework coming together eventually. The governor of India’s central bank, Shaktikanta Das, spoke out earlier this year about the dangers that cryptocurrency poses to the country’s economy, currency, and financial system.
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