India's CBDC roll-out likely this fiscal with wholesale businesses

India's own sovereign-backed CBDC was first announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2022 Union Budget

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to introduce its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) this fiscal year in a phased manner, initially for use only by wholesale businesses, and is designing it in a way that leaves no room for anonymity by its users, sources said.

The CBDC will be introduced for retail segments only after the RBI examines its usage among wholesale businesses, and a call on whether to allow anonymous transactions for general usage will be taken then.

“We are working on rolling out the CBDC for the wholesale segment this year. To begin with, there