Insight Bureau: Following the announcement of Digital Currency in the Union Budget 2022 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday removed some curtains from the topic. Digital rupee, proposed in the union budget, could be exchanged for cash and will open new opportunities in the fintech sector, he said.

PM Modi said that the digital currency will boost the digital economy in the year to come, adding that the RBI-backed CBDC will be controlled and monitored by the central bank and will be a digital avatar of India’s fiat currency.

Addressing the ‘Atmanirbha Arthavyavastha’ (self-reliant economy) symposium organised by the BJP, he said the central bank digital currency or the digital rupee will make online payments more secure and risk-free and boost the digital economy in the years to come.

“The digital rupee will be the digital form of our physical rupee and will be regulated by the RBI. This will be such a system that will enable the exchange of physical currency with digital currency,” Modi said.

The PM also threw more light that the RBI’s digital currency will be a legal tender, being a revamped version of the physical currency. Modi said people could convert digital currency to physical currency and vice-versa with ease, which will strengthen India’s digital economy and ecosystem.