Indian Finance Minister: India is exploring commercial use of central bank digital currency

 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital rupee, at the “Investing in India’s Digital Revolution” business roundtable in San Francisco this week, Golden Finance reported. The Indian government is exploring “multiple commercial uses, not just financial inclusion” for its central bank digital currency. The Indian finance minister clarified that the goal is to issue a digital rupee backed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by 2023. Sitharaman highlighted that the Indian government has a consistent digital push across all industries. She emphasized: “Central bank digital currency, digital bank and digital university are all announced in the federal budget. There is a continuous digital push by the government in various sectors.” At the same time, the Indian government is formulating the country’s cryptocurrency policy. The finance minister said this week that a decision would not be rushed. RBI deputy governor T. Rabi Sankar said the central bank will roll out the digital rupee "in a very calibrated, gradual way, assessing the impact throughout the process". (news.bitcoin)