After the successful pilot, the Reserve Bank of India may launch a full-scale wholesale central bank digital currency in January 2024 for possible small and medium enterprises use cases.
With cashbacks and reward points, the Reserve Bank of India and other participating banks are hoping for a higher digital currency transactions.
Under the wholesale CBDC pilot, the RBI will test the viability of atomic settlements using blockchain plus the additional functionality of smart contracts for programmability.
India's CBDC navigates UPI competition while aiming for cross-border success, considering the digital rupee's journey amidst UPI dominance and its potential in cross-border transactions.
Nokia's parent firm, HMD Global, with Airtel Payments Bank and IDEMIA, is creating offline payment options for the digital rupee, prioritizing users without internet access under RBI's CBDC scheme.
The Reserve Bank of India is planning upgrades for its digital rupee to encourage wider adoption, including offline payments and integration with Unified Payments Interface.
YES Bank's UPI integration with RBI's CBDC app advances digital rupee adoption, offering seamless transactions, expanding reach, and setting the stage for further banking transformation.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is hiring a Head of Blockchain with blockchain expertise to enhance payments through blockchain technology.
Reliance's Jio Financial Services to enter digital rupee space with blockchain and CBDCs ahead of India's CBDC launch.
HDFC, India's largest private sector bank, has also onboarded 170,000 merchants as India seeks to hit a million daily transactions by December.
The Reserve Bank of India is keen on experimenting with multiple CBDC use cases outside the purview of domestic payments, according to the Economic Times.
To prevent shocking its financial system, the central bank says it will take a "calibrated approach" in launching the digital rupee, adding that it would explore more features to onboard more users.
