The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is preparing to expand its digital rupee pilot program, adding innovations and new use cases for its digital currency.
Expansion of CBDC Pilot Program
According to data from CNBC citing the Annual Report 2024-2025, the RBI plans to expand the scale of its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot for both retail and wholesale segments. The bank aims to introduce new use cases and features for the digital rupee.
Achievements and Challenges of Digital Rupee
Currently, the digital rupee pilot has shown significant growth, with over 6 million users and participation from 17 banks. This testing is being conducted on a broader scale across various states, catering to millions of users. The RBI is supported by companies like Polygon Labs.
Future of Digital Currency in India
India is also looking at CBDC pilots for cross-border transactions on both bilateral and multilateral levels, demonstrating support for the use of digital rupees for international settlements. Despite numerous promising use cases, issues like privacy concerns and UPI competition remain relevant.
Thus, the RBI’s digital rupee pilot project represents an important step in modernizing India’s financial system and illustrates the potential of digital currencies for future transactions.
