PANews reported on August 26 that according to CoinDesk, Shaktikanta Das, governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said at a conference in Bangalore that India's retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot has more than 5 million users and 16 banks are involved. Das stressed that there should be no rush to fully launch CBDC, and suggested a gradual implementation to fully understand its impact on users, monetary policy, the financial system and the economy. Since the beginning of 2023, the Reserve Bank of India has explored offline payment and programming functions, and plans to gradually launch more features, including anonymity and offline availability.