The Indian government is exploring “multiple commercial use purposes and not just financial inclusion” for its central bank digital currency. India’s finance minister clarified that it aims for a digital rupee, backed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to be issued by 2023.
Finance Minister of India on RBI backed digital currency
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital rupee, at a business roundtable on “Investing in India’s Digital Revolution” in San Francisco this week.
The event was organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India. It was hosted by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).
Reiterating that the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) aim to introduce India’s central bank digital currency in 2023, the Finance Minister described:
The government and the RBI are looking at many of its commercial uses for purposes and not just financial inclusion.
He added that financial inclusion is “achieved on a large scale through the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile).” The finance minister had earlier claimed: “The JAM trinity concept of the Narendra Modi government helped reach the farthest person in the country.”
Sitharaman stressed that the Government of India maintains a consistent digital push across all industries. She stressed: “Central bank digital currency, digital bank and digital university were announced in the Union Budget. There is a continuous digital nudge in all sectors by the government.”
The Finance Minister pointed out during his budget speech that the introduction of a central bank digital currency would give a major boost to the country’s digital economy, stating:
The digital currency will also lead to a more efficient and cheaper currency management system.
Meanwhile, the Government of India is working on the country’s crypto policy. The Finance Minister had said this week that the decision would not be rushed. RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Shankar said that the central bank will assess the impact of the entire line about launching a digital rupee “in a very calibrated, graduated manner.”
Finance ministry officials are also discussing crypto regulation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
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