“These (CBDC) are extremely evolving technologies and business choices that one has to make, and therefore it’s difficult to put a date, but we should be able to come up with a model in the near future — probably by the end of this year,” the deputy governor said at the post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press conference, without specifying any further timelines.
“We are evaluating the issue of scope, technology, distribution and validation mechanism etc.” Sankar said. Earlier in July, Sankar had said that RBI is working toward a “phased implementation strategy” of CBDC in India where a pilot to test a general-purpose digital currency is a possibility in the near future.
To be sure, a CBDC is a form of virtual currency or cryptocurrency that is issued by a central bank as an alternative to its currency. These are largely stable coins backed by sovereign reserves and, unlike private crypto assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum, the value of these digital coins is not subject to volatile market fluctuations.