Around 15,000 transactions per day taking place in retail CBDC, says RBI DG

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor T. Rabi Sankar

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar on September 14 said around 15,000 transactions are taking place in a day in the pilot testing of retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

“It is roughly around 15,000 transactions a day or so, we will have to take it to one million,” Sankar said on the sidelines of the Global SME Finance Forum 2023.

Sankar said the central bank aims to scale this up to one million transactions a day.

Further, the Deputy Governor said that the RBI has completed the interoperability with the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) QR codes and they will focus on the transactions.

Earlier in July, Sankar said that the central bank is trying to target interoperability of CBDC with unified payment interface (UPI).

Under this, customers can send the amount from CBDC wallet or directly from bank account using the one QR code.

Soon after this, most banks, including State Bank of India, YES Bank, Punjab National Bank, among others have announced the interoperability of UPI and CBDC.

Last year, the central bank rolled out pilot testing of CBDC in wholesale as well as retail segment.

With both wholesale and retail pilots live in the country, the RBI has joined 17 other central banks including those of China and South Korea whose pilots are underway.

On the Fintech regulations front, Sankar on the sidelines said the central bank is now only focusing on the self-regulations for the Fintech sector.

“Internally we are looking at what other things are possible which will help the fintech sector grow in an orderly manner,” Sankar said.

On July 7, Sankar while speaking at the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave, said the central bank may bring regulations for the fintech companies after consultation with the industry.

He added that they are working on these regulations on these entities and ecosystem.

After this, On July 12, Moneycontrol reported that Indian fintech companies are pitching for simpler know-your-customer (KYC) norms for lending to small businesses and easier access to cheaper capital for priority sector lending in the Fintech regulations.