5,000 Merchants in India Now Accept Payments in Digital Rupee: Deputy Governor

5,000 merchants and 50,000 users are now participating in India’s CBDC pilot project, the RBI deputy governor has said, noting that the central bank intends to take the project forward gradually to avoid unwanted repercussions.

Rabi Shankar, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), announced A policy press conference on Wednesday marked the first milestone for India’s digital currency, detailing that the country’s CBDC pilot now has 50,000 users and 5,000 merchants.

Shankar said the RBI wanted the project to proceed slowly and carefully to avoid taking any actions without fully understanding their potential impact. They said:

“We want the process to happen, but we want the process to happen slowly and gradually. We are in no rush to do anything so quickly. We have our goals in terms of users, in terms of merchants. We Will move forward slowly.”

50,000 users and 5,000 merchants are currently transacting through eight banks, with five more to join soon. Besides this, the pilot, which is taking place in five cities, has processed transactions worth ₹7.7 lakh, Shankar said, adding that they plan to add nine more cities.

India’s central bank has long been a supporter of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), calling them the “future of money”. Country launched a pilot program Its digital currency in collaboration with nine banks in November last year.

The Reserve Bank of India hopes to reduce the economy’s dependence on cash, enable cheap and easy international settlement, and protect people from the volatility of private cryptocurrencies with the digital rupee. The central bank is next planning to use the CBDC for wholesale transactions and cross-border payments.

As mentioned, India’s largest retailer, Reliance Retail, announced Last week it announced plans to accept payments in digital rupee, which could boost CBDC adoption in the country. The retail chain has partnered with ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and fintech Innoviti Technologies to add support for the digital rupee at its Freshpick stores across the country.

India’s central bank, on the other hand, has long maintained a hardline stance towards digital assets, arguing that the nascent asset class has no inherent value. The RBI has consistently warned investors and the government against crypto, citing volatility as well as the risk of frauds and scams.

Last month, Shaktikanta Das, governor of India’s central bank, said Cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value and his alleged “worth nothing but to believe.” Cryptos aren’t even worth a tulip, he said, alluding to the famous Dutch tulip mania explosion in the early part of the last century.