Digital future

New features will increase digital currency adoption

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been issuing the central bank digital currency (CBDC) on a pilot basis from late 2022. Based on blockchain technology, in the retail segment, CBDC-R was launched within a closed user group (CUG) comprising participating customers and merchants. The CBDC-R pilot currently enables person-to-person and person-to-merchant transactions using digital rupee wallets. Armed with the experience thus far, the RBI has now proposed to enable additional use cases like programmability and offline functionality, which could not only increase the adoption of the digital currency but also help attain public policy goals. As the central bank