News Excerpt: 

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor said that permanent deletion of transactions can make the e-rupee or Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) anonymous and bring it at par with paper currency.

About RBI Governor’s view on e-rupee:

• At the BIS Innovation Summit, RBI's Governor acknowledged the concerns around privacy and anonymity that have arisen since the introduction of the e-rupee in late 2022. 
• He noted that the electronic nature of the CBDC leaves a trace of all transactions, unlike cash, which offers complete anonymity.
• To address these concerns, RBI's Governor stated that Anonymity can be addressed through legislation and/or through technology. For example, through permanent deletion of transactions.
• The basic principle is that CBDC can have the same degree of anonymity as cash, no more and no less.
• The central bank continues to work on enhancing the e-rupee's features to promote financial inclusion. 
• India plans to introduce offline mode transferability and programmability for the CBDC, which would enable transactions in areas with poor or limited internet connectivity, pointing out that one of the key features of cash is that it does not require network connectivity to work.
• India has made CBDC non-remunerative, by making it non-interest-bearing to mitigate any potential risks of bank disintermediation.
• To widen the reach of the e-rupee, the RBI recently announced the participation of non-banks in the pilot with the expectation that their reach can be leveraged for the distribution of CBDCs and for providing value-added services.