RBI working on phased introduction of digital currency, mulls pilot projects The RBI is working on phased introduction of its own digital currency and is mulling pilot projects in wholesale and retail segments in the near future, Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said on Thursday. He also said several countries have implemented specific purpose Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) in the wholesale and retail segments. A CBDC is a legal tender issued by a central bank in a digital form. It is the same as a fiat currency and is exchangeable one-to-one with the fiat currency. Sankar said developing a domestic CBDC could provide the public with uses that any private virtual currency (VC) offers and to that extent might retain public preference for the rupee.