RBI to launch Digital Rupee today: What you should know

New Delhi, Nov 01: The Reserve Bank of India said that it would commence pilot launches off digital Rupee or e-Rupee for specific use cases from November 1.

The RBI would launch a pilot digital Rupee for the wholesale segment on Tuesday, a statement by the RBI read.

The official statement said that the use case for this pilot was settlement of wholesale market transactions in government securities. The use of digital rupee-wholesale segment is expected to make the inter-bank market more efficient, the RBI said while adding that the settlement in the central bank money would reduce transaction costs by pre-empting the need for settlement guarantee infrastructure or for the collateral to mitigate settlement risk.

"Going forward, other wholesale transactions, and cross-border payments will be the focus of future pilots, based on the learnings from this pilot," the statement read.

Nine banks-State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC have been identified for participation in the pilot.

The first pilot in digital Rupee for retail segment is planned for launch within a month in select locations, closed user groups comprising customers and merchants, the RBI said.