RBI Digital Currency: Union Bank of India aims to adopt Reserve Bank of India s digital rupee for employee benefit schemes, encouraging CBDC wallet transactions among staff members. Initially, the bank plans to credit specific allowances directly to the digital wallet, yet encounters resistance from some employees, prompting a protest from the All India Union Bank Employees Federation. They advocate for management to consult staff before enforcing this initiative.
The introduction of CBDC was announced in the Union Budget 2022-23, by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and necessary amendments to the relevant section of the RBI Act, 1934 was made with the passage of the Finance Bill 2022.
The largest private sector lender HDFC Bank on Thursday claimed that it has on-boarded over 1 lakh customers and more than 1.7 lakh merchants on the CBDC pilot programme and activated an interoperable UPI QR code with the e-rupee platform.
There will be some technological challenges, some process challenges and the RBI will want to iron out all those aspects and introduce the CBDC in a manner that is non-disruptive, Shaktikanta Das said.