India Exploring Commercial Uses for Central Bank Digital Currency, Says Finance Minister – Regulation Bitcoin News

The Indian government is exploring “several commercial use purposes and not just financial inclusion” for its central bank digital currency. India’s finance minister clarified that the aim is for the digital rupee, which will be backed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to be issued by 2023.

India’s Finance Minister on RBI-Backed Digital Currency

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman talked about the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital rupee, this week at a business roundtable on “Investing in India’s Digital Revolution” in San Francisco.

The event was organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India. The U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) hosted the event.

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:

RBI and the government are investigating its many commercial purposes, and not just financial inclusion.

She noted that financial inclusion “is largely achieved through the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile).” The minister of finance previously claimed: “The JAM trinity concept of the Narendra Modi government helped to reach the farthest person in the country.”

Sitharaman stressed that India’s government continues to push digital initiatives across all sectors. She stressed: “Central bank digital currency, digital banks, and digital university were announced in the Union Budget. There is a continuous digital nudge by the government across sectors.”

The finance minister explained during her Budget speech that the introduction of a central bank digital currency will give a big boost to the country’s digital economy, stating:

The digital currency system will be more cost-effective and efficient than traditional currency management systems.

Meanwhile, the Indian government is working on the country’s crypto policy. This week, the finance minister stated that this decision would not be taken in a hurry. RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar said the central bank would go about launching a digital rupee “in a very calibrated, graduated manner, assessing impact all along the line.”

Financial ministry officials also discussed crypto regulation with both the International Monetary Fund, (IMF), and the World Bank.

What do you think about the comments by India’s finance minister? Please comment below.

Kevin Helms

Kevin, a student of Austrian Economics and evangelist since 2011, discovered Bitcoin. His main interests are in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects, cryptography, and intersections between economics, cryptography, and Cryptography.