According to Bloomberg, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI, the central bank of India) will pilot the digital rupee (CBDC) in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Bhubaneswar from December 1, with the initial participation of four banks including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank.
Later, the pilot program will be extended to nine more cities, including Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla, with four more institutions to joining, the RBI said.
The test will be conducted with a select group of customers and merchants. The digital rupee will be issued in the same denominations as existing bills and coins, can be paid to merchants using QR codes, and like cash, there will be no processing fees for the digital rupee.
The RBI announced its plans to build a prototype digital rupee in October of this year and tested it in a series of scenarios and use cases.
