RBI targeting 1Mn CBDC transactions per day by 2023-end, set to introduce UPI QR Codes for e-Rupee

On Tuesday, The Reserve Bank of India’s Deputy Governor, T Rabi Sankar, announced that the RBI is aspiring to conduct at least one million central bank digital currency (CBDC) transactions per day by the end of 2023.

As of June-end, the pilot for retail CBDC transactions crossed one million users and 262,000 merchants.

It must be noted that the central bank launched the pilot on the e-Rupee on 1 December last year for retail transactions. Now 13 banks are offering retail CBDC. Nearly, 13 lakh users have downloaded the CBDC wallet since then and about three lakh merchants are now accepting CBDC payments, cite reports. Further, approximately, 5,000 to 10,000 transactions are being done each day using retail CBDC.

Know RBI’s plans of pushing e-Rupee payments by leveraging UPI QR codes

Addressing a conference organised by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA), the DG mentioned that the central bank will soon begin interoperability of CBDC with the UPI, i.e., the unified payments interface. He said, "We will take advantage of the UPI network to increase transactions in CBDC. There will be one QR code and you can swipe the QR code using the CBDC app. If the merchant has a CBDC account, the payment will settle in the CBDC wallet. If the merchant does have a CBDC account, then there will be an option to make payment using UPI." Further, 20–25 banks should be on board with the CBDC and interoperability system, Sankar said. “It might take some time. For the banks that have started this, it should be done by the end of this month.”

Moreover, the Deputy Governor has also urged both the banks as well as fintech firms to have an informed debate on use of cryptocurrencies so as to ensure that customers are not carried away by misleading advertisements.

Further, the official also stated that the RBI is actively working on delivering the promise of anonymity on CBDC, for which it is in touch with the government.