India in ‘no hurry’ for CBDC as digital rupee pilot onboards 50k users

The Indian government doesn’t want to rush its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot despite joining the CBDC race just a few months ago.

India’s recently launched CBDC pilot has amassed 50,000 users, and 5,000 merchants since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

As previously reported, RBI officially debuted a wholesale CBDC in November 2022, launching a retail CBDC a month later. The Indian government initially announced CBDC plans in early 2022, declaring that a digital rupee would be a “big boost” for India’s economy. The RBI then proposed a three-step graded approach for its rollout, aiming for little or no disruption to the traditional financial system.

India’s CBDC developments came years after countries like China started aggressive digital currency rollout in April 2020. Despite massive efforts to promote the use of CBDC, some former central bank officials claimed that the digital yuan’s usage has been low.