technological footprint and infrastructure capabilities. central bank digital currencies ( cbdcs ) have the potential to enable safe retail and wholesale payments with central bank money. this will affect citizens across borders. careful design of cbdcs and their distribution models will address disintermediation concerns. issues such as the cross - currency payments in cbdc and the potential of foreign users gaining access to domestic cbdc merit discussion at international level. furthermore, as mentioned in a recent bis report, liquidity bridges for cross - border payments across central banks may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the global liquidity pool of banking groups operating in several currencies, and reduce the opportunity costs associated with holding liquidity buffers in multiple currencies. upgrades to central bank operated market infrastructures, potentially in the form of interoperability with distributed ledger solutions, may also enhance the uptake of digital finance in regulated crypto services. finally, the adoption of supervisory technology, or suptech, will help us modernise our interaction with supervised entities and revolutionise on - site and off - site auditing capabilities. let me conclude by saying that the evolution of digital finance is continuous and rapid. keeping up with this speed in the four aforementioned challenge areas will be very demanding. joining forces and sharing experience as frequently as possible, as we are doing now in this conference, will help us safeguard financial stability and underpin growth in increasingly integrated financial markets. thank you. 4 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches

growth rate has further accelerated averaging 7. 2 per cent during the seven - year period 2000 - 01 to 2007 - 08, with the growth rate in the last five years ( 2003 - 04 to 2007 - 08 ) averaging 8. 7 per cent. over the years, while the gdp growth has been accelerating, the population growth rate has moderated, giving a sharp impetus to the growth in per capita income. the strengthening of economic activity in the recent years has been supported by a sustained increase in the gross domestic investment rates from 22. 8 per cent of gdp in 2001 - 02 to 35. 9 per cent in 2006 - 07. it may also be noted that over 95 per cent of the investment during this period was financed by domestic savings. since independence, the inflation rate, in terms of the wholesale price index ( wpi ), on average basis, was above 15 per cent in only five out of fifty years and was in single digit for thirty six of these years. on most occasions, high inflation was due to shocks – food or oil. the inflation rate accelerated steadily from an annual average of 1. 7 per cent during the 1950s to 6. 4 per cent during the 1960s and further to 9. 0 per cent in the 1970s before easing marginally to 8. 0 per cent in the 1980s. the inflation rate declined from an average of 11. 0 per cent during 1990 - 95 to 5. 3 per cent during the second half of 1990s. in recent years, inflation rate has averaged around 5 per cent. an important characteristic of the recent growth phase of over a quarter century is the country's resilience to shocks. during this period, we have witnessed only one serious balance of payments crisis triggered largely by the gulf war in the early 1990s. the indian economy, in the later years, could successfully avoid any adverse contagion impact of shocks from the east asian crisis, the russian crisis during 1997 - 98, sanction - like - situation in post - pokhran scenario, and the border conflict during may - june 1999. viewed in this context, this robust macroeconomic performance, in the face of recent oil as well as food shocks, demonstrates the vibrancy and resilience of the indian economy. it is necessary to note that, despite the recent encouraging performance, the indian economy faces several severe challenges. these relate, in particular, to poverty, education, health, environment, physical infrastructure, and fiscal issues. what has been the role of the