In a move to expand accessibility and functionality, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced Thursday that the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot project will soon offer offline transaction capabilities and introduce programmable features. Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said that programmability-based additional use cases will be introduced as part of the pilot project.
The retail CBDC pilot, initiated by the RBI in December 2022, successfully achieved its target of facilitating 10 lakh transactions daily by December 2023.
While highlighting the forthcoming offline feature, Das noted that various offline solutions, including proximity and non-proximity based options, will be trialed in diverse terrains such as hilly regions, rural, and urban areas.
Furthermore, in terms of programmability, the system currently facilitates Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M) transactions through digital rupee wallets offered by pilot banks. Das outlined plans to expand the scope of utility through programmability and offline functionality.
In a related development, Das also disclosed the RBI's intention to bolster the security features of Aadhaar-enabled Payment Systems (AePS), a platform utilized by 37 crore individuals in 2023.