The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is mulling to introduce a model of ‘digital currency’, wherein only the appearance of the currency will be changed from physical to digital.

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While speaking at a webinar, RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Shankar, who has recently replaced the former Dy Governor BP Kanungo, indicated that the central bank is planning to launch a digital currency in the near future.

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The central bank will soon be launching a pilot project of digital currency for the wholesale and retail segment. However, to implement this some important laws and Acts need to be amended such as RBI Act, FEMA Act, IT Act, and Coinage Act, the report further states.

The central bank will also take into account the risks of launching digital currency along with the benefits of the same, the report says.

The planned digital currency of RBI will be completely different from private currency, as the latter doesn’t have any intrinsic value, but the former will have intrinsic value. The central bank will change only the form of currency and not the currency or its value.

Sankar, delivering a speech to outline the RBI’s plans on Thursday, had said that policymakers were considering running pilot programs for the proposed central bank digital currency.

The deputy governor pointed out that the introduction of digital currency will help in bringing down the usage of cash in the economy and minimizing the damage to the public from the usage of private virtual currencies.