Existing UPI QR Codes Could Begin Processing Transactions in eRupee CBDC: RBI’s T Rabi Sankar

RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar was addressing a press conference on Thursday, June 8 when he announced this update to the media.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Richa Sharma | Updated: 8 June 2023 18:40 IST

Existing UPI QR Codes Could Begin Processing Transactions in eRupee CBDC: RBI’s T Rabi Sankar

Photo Credit: Twitter/ Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

India has been working on its CBDCs for the last two years and is now on advanced trial stage

Highlights

CBDC is a blockchain representation of any nation’s fiat currency
Over 300 million UPI users in India already use QR codes for daily payme
India aims to make million people part of its CBDC ecosystem by June end

India is planning to introducing its own blockchain-based eRupee CBDC for commercial use. The country is mulling more ways to make this process simple for adoption. On Thursday, May 8, RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar hinted that existing UPI QR codes could become interoperable with the Indian CBDC in the months to come. At this point, the RBI is considering if existing QR codes must act like a gateway for CBDC transactions. It, however, remains unclear by when would the RBI take a concrete decision on the subject.

Sankar was addressing a press conference on Thursday when he announced this update to the media.

"We are planning to make the UPI QR code interoperable [with the eRupee],” media reports quoted Sankar as saying.

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Given that the UPI QR codes reportedly help over 300 million Indians facilitate online payments, their use for CBDC payments could aid more people adopt the payment means.

CBDC — central bank digital currency — is the virtual representation of a fiat currency on a blockchain network. Similar to cryptocurrency in functionality but controlled by central banks, CBDCs are capable of storing permanent transactional records on the blockchain, while also reducing the national dependency on cash notes.

India, at present, is on an advanced stage of trials for its eRupee CBDC.

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Currently, eRupee worth over Rs. 130 crore are in circulation as part of the going trials. The detail was revealed by Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier in March.

Over 50,000 testers, 5,000 selected merchants and multiple banks are involved in the trial runs of the eRupee CBDC, which is being accepted at select Reliance stores in Mumbai.

India and UAE have also joined forces in agreeing to take the trials of their respective CBDCs to a cross-country level. The central banks of both the nations will collectively be testing how their CBDCs operate from the other country.

By the end of June, India aims to onboard a million users to its CBDC ecosystem, Sankar reportedly said in today's press conference.

As of now, the government has not disclosed any special date on which this digital currency would be rolled out to the masses for daily use.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, India, CBDC, eRupee, RBI, UPI, QR Code

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More