Operationalisation of Central Bank Digital Currency – Retail (e₹-R) Pilot
The Reserve Bank announces the launch of the first pilot for retail digital Rupee (e₹-R).
on December 01, 2022
Transactions can be both Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M)
Payments to merchants can be made using QR codes displayed at merchant locations.
The e₹-R would offer features of physical cash like trust, safety and settlement finality. As in the case of cash, it will not earn any interest and can be converted to other forms of money, like deposits with banks.
Eight banks have been identified for phase-wise participation in this pilot
The first phase will begin with four banks, viz., State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank in four cities across the country.
Four more banks, viz., Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank will join this pilot subsequently.
The pilot would initially cover four cities, viz., Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar and later extend to Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla.
The scope of pilot may be expanded gradually to include more banks, users and locations as needed.