India’s digital payments ecosystem maintained strong momentum in April 2025, following a seasonal expansion in March, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest monthly bulletin. The central bank highlighted a sharp rise in the adoption of the digital rupee or central bank digital currency (CBDC), known as eRs, indicating increasing acceptance in both retail and wholesale financial sectors.
“The central bank digital currency eRs in circulation continued to gain further traction, with volume more than doubling and value rising over fourfold year-on-year as of the week ended April 18, 2025,” the RBI noted.
Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), a key indicator of overall economic activity, showed robust double-digit year-on-year growth in both transaction volume and value. Despite occasional technical disruptions, major digital payment channels remained resilient, with Unified Payments Interface (UPI), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), and National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) all reporting continued expansion in usage.
In the card payments segment, credit card spending peaked at Rs 2.01 lakh crore in March 2025. The number of credit cards in circulation grew by 7.94 per cent over the previous year, taking the total count to 109.8 million.
For the full financial year 2024-25, digital payments recorded a 35.0 per cent year-on-year increase in volume and a 17.9 per cent rise in value. This compares with growth of 44.3 per cent in volume and 16.4 per cent in value during 2023-24, reflecting a slight moderation in pace but continued expansion across platforms.
The rising usage of the RBI’s digital currency is seen as a key pillar in the central bank’s long-term strategy to build a digitally inclusive economy. The steep year-on-year rise in both volume and value of eRs transactions by April 2025 underscores growing confidence in the initiative.
As digital transactions deepen and the eRs gains ground, the RBI’s push towards modernising India’s monetary system and strengthening digital infrastructure continues to gain momentum.