RAS question
India's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the Digital Rupee (e₹), was launched as a pilot by:
Correct answer: (C) Reserve Bank of India.
India's Central Bank Digital Currency, the Digital Rupee or e-rupee, was launched as a pilot by the Reserve Bank of India.
Explanation
The Reserve Bank of India is the issuing authority behind India's official Central Bank Digital Currency pilot. RBI launched the Digital Rupee in phases: the wholesale segment, e-rupee-W, in November 2022 and the retail segment, e-rupee-R, in December 2022. The RBI press release announced upcoming Digital Rupee pilots and stated that the first wholesale pilot would commence on November 1, 2022. It also identifies the initial use case as settlement of secondary-market transactions in government securities and notes that the retail pilot was planned next in select locations for closed user groups of customers and merchants. That makes RBI, not a market regulator, commercial bank, or payments corporation, the correct answer.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) SEBI regulates the securities market, while the Digital Rupee pilot was announced and operationalised by the Reserve Bank of India.
- (B) SBI was one of the banks identified to participate in the wholesale pilot, but participation in the pilot is not the same as launching India's CBDC.
- (D) NPCI manages UPI, whereas the Digital Rupee is a central bank digital currency initiative launched by RBI.
Concept
This tests the institutions-and-technology part of the RAS Science and Technology syllabus: candidates must link a digital public-finance innovation to the correct authority. It recurs because CBDC, UPI, market regulation, and banking supervision are often confused in exam options.