Published 12:30 IST, January 26th 2024

Govt and RBI actively engaged to improve central bank digital currency

The e-rupee is being issued in the same denominations as the paper currency and coins.

Reported by: Business Desk
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Nirmala Sitaraman | Image: PTI
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RBI’s digital currency:  government and Reserve Bank are actively engd in improving central bank digital currency (CBDC) so that it can be used for cross-border payments, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.  apex bank has begun pilot project wholesale CBDC and picked up 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.

e-rupee is being issued in same deminations as paper currency and coins. It is being distributed through financial intermediaries, i.e. banks. Users can transact with e-rupee through a digital wallet offered by participating banks.

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Besides, RBI has alrey rolled out a pilot in retail version of CBDC or e-rupee on December 1, 2022. e-rupee is in form of a digital token that represents legal tender.

“We strongly believe it helps in cross-border payments. It will bring in greater transparency and traceability…,” Sitharaman said while speaking at an event to mark 125 years of Hindu College.

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According to Sitharaman, e-rupee helps speed up payments with less cost, she said, ding it brings down cost of inward and outward remittance. 

While throwing light on India’s agriculture sector, FM Sitharaman said, ”Agriculture retains its primacy and we are looking at strengning agriculture by modernizing some of practices, post-harvest practices and so on,” she said.

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In manufacturing, she said, government h identified 13 sunrise sectors including renewable energy, semiconductor, machine learning, earth sciences, and .

 

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19:55 IST, January 25th 2024

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