The central banks of India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will collectively run pilot applications on their central financial institution digital currencies (CBDCs), based on a Wednesday press release from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 

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• The Indian central financial institution and its UAE counterpart have signed a memorandum of understanding in Abu Dhabi to discover the “interoperability” between the 2 nations’ CBDCs. 
• In this case, interoperability refers back to the ease of move between CBDCs of 1 nation to and from one other. 
• The financial institution’s actions will embody collectively conducting “proof-of-concept and pilot(s) of bilateral CBDC bridge to facilitate cross-border CBDC transactions of remittances and trade,” the announcement stated.
• India has been testing a retail CBDC in 15 cities since final November, with plans to develop trials. In December, the nation additionally launched a wholesale CBDC pilot to check the settlement of secondary market transactions in authorities securities.  
• The UAE’s central financial institution final month announced its plans to launch its CBDC, amongst different blockchain-related initiatives, as a part of efforts to change into a monetary and digital fee hub.
• According to a Monday report by U.Ok. expertise market researcher Juniper Research, the worldwide worth of CBDCs is predicted to develop from US$100 million at present to US$213 billion by 2030, as soon as digital cash positive aspects better adoption for home funds. 

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