Central Bank Digital Currency - A Financial Revolution

November 1 witnessed India’s central bank launching the digital currency (Rupee) in the wholesale segment.

- Dr. Rajiv Khosla

In simple terms, the use of Rupee in electronic form instead of its physical form is termed as Digital Rupee. For experimentation purpose, only nine banks – Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, YES Bank, IDFC First Bank, and HSBC – have been initially approved by the government for buying and selling securities using Digital Rupee.

It is not that India is the first or the only country in the world where digital currency is being experimented. Atlantic Council, an independent organization based in Washington DC reported that as of March this year, 87 countries were considering the testing of digital currencies and nine countries – Bahamas, Nigeria & seven countries of the Eastern Caribbean Union – have already rolled out their central bank digital currency. Of course, by permitting the use of digital currency in the wholesale segment, India has figured among few major countries of the world which are testing digital currencies.