Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), told a news outlet that the central bank might launch its first digital currency trial programs by the end of the year.
- In a Thursday interview, Das said, “We are being extremely careful about it because it’s completely a new product, not just for RBI, but globally.”
- The RBI is carefully considering all aspects of the digital currency including its security, impact on India’s financial sector, and how it would affect monetary policy and currency in circulation.
- The central bank is also looking to choose between the centralized ledger for the digital currency or the distributed ledger technology (DLT).
- Along with India, other countries are also accelerating their efforts to look into digital currency. China is leading the way with real-world trials already in place across several cities. The U.K. and Europe are also exploring the digital currency to be issued by them.
- The currency will be owned and fully regulated by the central bank and the CBDC would function more like their fiat counterparts having widespread acceptance.
