Bank of Baroda is set to significantly increase its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) user base, targeting 10 lakh users within the next three to four months, according to the bank’s executive director, Joydeep Dutta Roy. The state-owned lender currently has around 2.5 lakh CBDC users.
“We have around 2.5 lakh users and we are working to make 10 lakh users over the next 3-4 months,” Roy said during an industry event organized by FICCI and the Indian Banks Association.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the retail pilot of its digital currency in December 2022. In September this year, RBI deputy governor T Rabi Sankar indicated that the pilot testing was generating around 15,000 transactions per day.
“It is roughly around 15,000 transactions a day or so; we will have to take it to one million,” Sankar said.
The RBI has successfully achieved interoperability with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) QR codes, and the focus now shifts towards transactions, Sankar added. Interoperability allows customers to transfer funds from a CBDC wallet or directly from a bank account using a single QR code.
Following the RBI’s announcement, several banks, including SBI, Yes Bank, and PNB, also implemented interoperability.
Commenting on the transaction volume, Roy stated that the bank is prioritizing user growth over the number of transactions. “The moment user base becomes 10 lakh, the number of transactions will go up,” Roy explained.
