Union Budget 2023: 5 ways to make digital rupee or CBDC a success

timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

Budget 2023: While India's evolving digital payments ecosystem has led to the inclusion of many first-time users into the digital fold, it has also set the stage for easier adoption of digital currency. The Covid-19 pandemic has already pushed millions of Indians toward contactless digital payments. But what will the much-awaited CBDC rollout mean for India? In her budget speech last year, the Finance Minister said that the introduction of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will give a big boost to India's digital economy.

In simple terms, CBDC is the existence of currency in digital form. For owning a digital rupee wallet and receiving payments, one doesn't need a bank account similar to cash. However, to load the wallet one will have to link it with a bank account.

In 2022, the RBI launched both the Wholesale CBDC (CBDC-W or e₹-W) and the Retail CBDC (CBDC-R or e₹-R) with CBDC-R on a pilot basis for the Indian market. As per the data compiled from state-owned banks, since the launch of the pilot wholesale CBDC, trades worth Rs 7,140 crore were settled using the digital rupee in November. Be it banks, NBFCs, Government-owned PSUs, or the Judiciary- every player in the system needs to work towards building trust and confidence among users to make the adoption of the digital rupee more efficient and effective.