RBI Looks To Expand Wholesale Digital Rupee Use Cases

The RBI will be attempting to expand the wholesale digital rupee's use cases through the technology of distributed ledger and account-based Central Bank Digital Currency.

The Reserve Bank of India is looking to operationalise the Unified Payments Interface for non-resident Indians, with international phone numbers, in March. While the feature was enabled before, it couldn't be implemented due to technical issues.

RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said the central bank is now working on using the wholesale CBDC via distributed ledger and exploring other use cases like call money and money market transactions.

The launch of the wholesale CBDC was not intended to move banks and others away from the negotiated dealing system–order matching that currently is in operation, but to expand use cases, Sankar said, on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Chiefs' meet in Bengaluru.

While there were initial problems, they adjusted the accounting as well as the communication between the Clearing Corp. of India Ltd. and the RBI, he said. "All that has been worked out."

In terms of retail digital rupee, the RBI is targeting to expand its reach to half a million users in the next quarter, in order to collect sufficient data to draw conclusions. It expects to get major banks on board and as many merchants as possible.

With the second day of the G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies meet coming to a close, many countries have expressed interest in either using the UPI or developing a system similar to India's, the Deputy Governor said.

In the case of some larger countries, they've shown interest in linking payment systems to enable interoperability, according to Sankar.

Multiple countries, including those from the Commonwealth, Caribbean, Africa and South Pacific, have expressed interest in linking or strengthening their system with India's example, he said.

In terms of larger countries looking to build on system interoperability, countries like the U.A.E., Mauritius, Indonesia, Thailand and some from Latin America have expressed interest, he said.