New Delhi:- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has urged a broader group of lenders to join its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program to facilitate transactions, three bankers said Wednesday. told Reuters.

About 20 central banks in emerging and developed markets are likely to have digital currencies in circulation by the end of 2010, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said in a study released Monday. Last year, the RBI began trials using CBDC, known as e-rupees, in both wholesale and retail markets. 

Major government and private financial institutions such as the State Bank of India, Baroda Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Yes Bank are currently participating in the pilot.

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“The RBI has asked smaller banks to either work with Fintech companies or evolve their systems to start piloting CBDCs this year,” said the state-owned bank at a meeting with RBI officials on Tuesday. technical director said.

“We now need to bring in interested Fintech partners and conduct a tender to estimate the costs involved. We expect this process to take about four to five months.” 

The bankers didn't want to be named because they weren't authorized to speak to the media. The RBI aims to reach its target of one million CBDC transactions per day by the end of this year, RBI Deputy Governor T. Ravi Shankar said Tuesday.

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He said there will be 1.3 million customers and 300,000 merchants using CBDC as of June 2023.

"By getting more banks to participate in the pilot, the RBI hopes to determine if there are problems with implementation and conduct the pilot with a large user base," said a bank official at another state-owned bank. I am thinking," he said.

“We are currently in the advanced stages of submitting a CBDC pilot application to the RBI. Approval is expected within the next month or two.” 

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The central bank has asked smaller banks to gather feedback from banks currently conducting pilot projects, bankers said. The RBI did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters requesting comment. 

The implementation of the next level of Digital Currency is on the Board if the RBI faces any problems then it will include nearly all the banks to increase the customer base.