eRupee to be an additional payment method for users: RBI

BENGALURU: The Reserve Bank of India, which recently released a concept note on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), aims to project the digital rupee as an additional payment avenue to users and not to replace the existing payment systems.

It wants CBDC to complement, rather than replace current forms of money. Also, once introduced, it will be accepted as a medium of payment, legal tender and also as a safe store of value by everyone.
Experts say it can be a new way to make payments, especially in the e-commerce sector. It will be one of the payment avenues for the public if they order anything on e-commerce platforms. 

RBI has said that the digital rupee will be introduced in a phased manner, and once introduced innovation around the product could expand the choices available.  Also, CBDC might have offline capabilities, without which it will not prove to be an attractive and accessible medium of payment for users.
It is expected that every CBDC project will start with a limited-scale pilot and would subsequently be scaled up at a population scale.

Harish Prasad, MD, Banking Solutions, India, FIS, said the value that the India retail CBDC (e-Rupee) will very likely be to offer a viable alternative to the use of physical currency, with nearly the same (or better) levels of convenience, finality (once-and-done), and to extent anonymity that physical currency transactions offer. 

“Physical currency has been used as an exchange of value for centuries, and a retail CBDC such as the e-Rupee can offer similar capabilities except that the bearer may have some sort of lightweight KYC obligations to comply with,” he said. He expects some innovation around the mechanisms of exchanging value using the e-Rupee, such as for instance support for offline payments which can make low-value payments faster and less frustrating.