No transaction data collated on e-rupee pilots so far: RBI

livemint.com:

MUMBAI : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has not been maintaining daily and monthly transaction records for its e-rupee digital currency pilots, the central bank said in response to Mint’s Right to Information (RTI) application. However, a senior regulatory official had recently pegged daily retail usage volumes at 15,000. Mint had sought daily and monthly data on the number of retail and wholesale transactions for the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

According to a concept note released in October 2022, the digital currency, though not significantly different from banknotes, is expected to offer advantages in terms of being more convenient, quicker and cost-effective. RBI’s central public information officer and deputy general manager Brijesh Baisakhiyar said in a reply that data is available with the banks and it would take a disproportionate amount of the regulator’s time to compile it. “Compilation of the information would engage the resources of the Bank in (a) disproportionate manner in terms of Section 7(9) of the Right to Information Act, 2005," said Baisakhiyar.

According to the existing arrangement, data sets including for credit, deposit, and bad loans, are reported by banks to RBI, which then consolidates and releases relevant data for public consumption. On 1 December, RBI launched a pilot for retail digital rupee (e ₹) with four banks in four cities, a month after testing the wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC). The pilot, governor Shaktikanta Das had said in September, is currently being operated through 13 banks across 26 cities.