India’s largest private lender HDFC Bank on Thursday said it has signed up over 100,000 customers and 170,000 merchants in pilot programmes using the central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is collaborating with lenders to enhance the popularity of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the e-rupee. Features being considered include enabling digital rupee transactions offline and linking the e-rupee to India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The RBI has urged banks to make the e-rupee interoperable with UPI through a QR code.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the government and the Reserve Bank are actively involved in enhancing the central bank digital currency (CBDC) for cross-border payments. The RBI initiated a pilot project for wholesale CBDC with nine banks, and a retail version of CBDC or e-rupee was launched on December 1, 2022. According to a press release released by RBI, dated October 31, 2022, the use case of the pilot project is expected to ensure settlement of secondary market transactions in government transactions. Settlement in central bank money would reduce transaction costs by pre-empting the need for settlement guarantee infrastructure or for collateral to mitigate settlement risk. Going forward, other wholesale transactions, and cross-border payments will be the focus of future pilots, based on the learnings from this pilot,” the noted further mentioned. “The use case for this pilot (wholesale segment) is settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. Use of e₹-W is expected to make the inter-bank market more efficient,” the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement today.
The Budget document specifies that the new slabs are for those opting for the New Tax Regime, in line with the Centre’s push for this new regime that aims to simplify personal tax by doing away with the complications of exemptions. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman or the Budget document does not mention the old tax regime, meaning slabs in the old regime remain unchanged. He also said greenfield airports proposed in the budget will go a long way in improving flight connectivity, which would give a fillip to the state’s economic growth. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday reacted to the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, questioning what would happen to those who are not employed. Mr Tharoor’s statements were in response to the revised tax slabs and rates under the new regime. Hours after her speech, she addressed a press conference on the Budget, which she said was a response to the ‘voice of the people’.
With the use of this innovative innovation, customers of the SBI CBDC will be able to quickly scan any retailer’s UPI QR code for quick and secure transactions. The proposed Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to be issued by the Reserve Bank will play a critical role in improving the speed of transactions and reducing the cost of cash, a Deloitte report said on Wednesday. The Reserve Bank on Tuesday said the scope of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot is being expanded gradually to include more banks and locations. The rupee continued to face pressure due to sustained foreign fund outflows and the broad strength of the American currency in the overseas markets due to unabated dollar demand from oil importers and weak risk appetite. In the upcoming months, Cred will introduce updates that will allow for programmable merchant payments, integration with Cred Pay, and PIN-less transactions below Rs 500. Cred will be providing access to its e-rupee wallet to a limited group of users, with the issuance of e-rupee tokens in the wallets being managed by YES Bank.
While Manmohan Singh’s 1991 Union Budget ended the Licence Raj, opening the Indian economy to the world, P Chidambaram’s presentation was labelled a “Dream Budget” for the relief it brought to the taxpayer. The first budget of Independent India described the Partition ( ) as the “most poignant human tragedy” outside of war. To understand how it was tackled, let’s look at the allocations made for relief and rehabilitation. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her eighth consecutive Union Budget on February 1. She has since delivered seven consecutive budgets along with one interim Budget in February 2024. Typically closed on weekends, stock markets occasionally operate on Saturdays for special events, such as the Union Budget.
“The CBDC infrastructure should be an environment that can operate 24×7 with zero downtime and at the same time protect the sensitive personal data of billions of users on its platform. Former US President Donald Trump pledged to block the creation of a federal digital currency, calling it a dangerous threat to freedom. He specifically mentioned the central bank digital currency (CBDC) and the potential control it would give the federal government over people’s money. Global bank messaging network SWIFT is planning a new platform in the next one to two years to connect the wave of central bank digital currencies now in development to the existing finance system, it has told Reuters.
The first part of the Budget Session will have nine sittings from January 31 to February 13 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will respond to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address and Sitharaman will reply to the discussion on the budget. The first time this happened was in 1958 when Jawaharlal Nehru presented the Budget, after Finance Minister T.T. Krishnamachari was forced to resign following allegations of corruption and fraud in the Mundhra scam. As the nation gears up for the Union Budget 2025, here are key terms you must know before tomorrow’s presentation.
He urged banks to collaborate with fintech firms to enhance their digital capabilities. “Wholesale digital rupee is expected to make the inter-bank market more efficient and reduce transaction costs by pre-empting the need for settlement guarantee infrastructure or for collateral to mitigate settlement risk,” the central bank said. “Based on the learnings from this pilot, other wholesale transactions and cross-border payments will be the focus of future pilots.”
