CBDC transaction volumes down, P2M transactions growing

Mumbai: The Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) transaction volumes have gone down after crossing 10 lakh in late-December 2023, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said on Friday.

The overall number of transactions has touched 2.2 crore since the launch of the CBDC pilot on December 1, 2022, Sankar said, adding that the number of participants in the pilot stands at 50 lakh. "Volumes have not been the same, they have come down," Sankar said, adding that the target of 10 lakh a day was met earlier on the back of measures such as interoperability with a very popular UPI platform.

As per a news report, banks disbursed employee benefits using the digital rupee in December, which helped the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) meet its target of 10 lakh daily transactions. Sankar said there are 46 lakh users and 4 lakh merchants transacting in CBDC right now, and added that as the acceptance of CBDC grows, there has been a growth in the P2M, or peer-to-merchant, transactions.