The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday extended the programmable features of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), or digital rupee, pilot project to more user cases. The new uses will include fuel, grocery, education, restaurant, medical and travel.
The additional features in user level programmability are aimed at boosting the usage of digital rupee.
This allows individuals, who are part of the pilot project, to programme the digital rupee for a specific purpose, location and duration. With this feature, an individual gets the flexibility to customise the use of her digital rupee.
For example, a user can now choose to transfer a specific amount to his family member for say, having a lunch at a restaurant. The user can also assign expiry date to this money, which means that the recipient will be required to spend
this money with in the specified time period.
The additional features were launched by RBI deputy governor
T Rabi Sankar on the second day of Global Fintech Fest. Currently, the CBDC is still running on a pilot mode, with its usage being allowed to select set of customers. The RBI has, so far, not announced any timeline for the launch of digital rupee for general public.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the launch, deputy governor Rabi Sankar said this is just the beginning for CBDC, and with evolution of technology and further development of the ecosystem, the digital rupee can be programmed for any specific use. The central bank has not set any target for the launch of CBDC for general public.
“As far as CBDC is concerned, we would like to go at the pace at which we are comfortable that the system can absorb,” he said.
The RBI governor earlier this year first announced introducing the programmability feature in the digital rupee.
The Reserve Bank of India started a pilot for the digital, devised as a digital alternative to physical cash in December 2022. However, its usage has been less than expectations. The Reserve Bank has asked banks to increase the usage of the digital rupee.