India’s Finance Minister Pankaj Chaudhary told the Bundestag on Tuesday that the government has no plans to introduce cryptocurrencies. Currently, cryptocurrencies are not regulated in India, he said in a written response. He said: “The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) does not issue cryptocurrencies. Traditional banknotes are fiat money issued by the Reserve Bank of India under the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act 1994. The digital version of traditional banknotes is known as central bank digital currency ( CBDC).”
Furthermore, he said in a separate reply that the RBI is currently working on a phased implementation strategy to introduce a CBDC and examine use cases that can be implemented with little or no disruption.
The introduction of a CBDC has the potential to bring significant benefits such as reduced reliance on cash, higher seigniorage due to lower transaction costs, etc.