The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy cordially invites you to an online discussion on ‘Central Bank Digital Currencies – Is This the Future of Money?‘ on 22 July, 2021 (Thursday) at 3 pm (IST), with a Keynote Address by T. Rabi Sankar, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India.

Across the world, central banks of major economies are considering the proposals and implications of issuing a central bank digital currency (“CBDC”) – a digital version of the fiat currency. However, they remain cautious of CBDCs’ potential to profoundly impact the monetary or financial stability of an economy provided the novelty and complexity associated with it. In early 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) also acknowledged that it is exploring the need to issue a CBDC for India. In that context, it may be useful to draw insights from the CBDC experience and findings of other central banks.

Vidhi’s recent working paper seeks to initiate and inform the public discourse on CBDC in India. By tracing CBDC developments in 43 countries, it seeks to analyse the preliminary considerations for a retail CBDC issuance in India.

Against this background, the panel discussion seeks to deconstruct CBDCs, and assess the opportunities and challenges associated with CBDC issuance with domain experts.

Read more about CBDC and download the working paper here.

Keynote Address:

T. Rabi Sankar, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India

The Speakers:

• Saugata Bhattacharya, Executive Vice President and Chief Economist, Axis Bank
• Ashraf Khan, Senior Financial Sector Expert, International Monetary Fund

Shehnaz Ahmed, Senior Resident Fellow and Lead, Fintech, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, will moderate the session.

For any questions or queries, please email: fintech@vidhilegalpolicy.in