Three years after the launch of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the digital rupee in circulation has surged to Rs 1,016.5 crore in 2025, up from Rs 16.4 crore in 2023. Consequently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is exploring the digital rupee’s deployment for cross-border payments on a bilateral basis. The apex bank is also mulling participation in multilateral CBDC initiatives under the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub as disclosed in the RBI’s Annual Report for 2024–2025.
Progress on the CBDC front
The digital rupee now incorporates offline use cases and programmability features, in addition to cross-border pilots. Programmability allows government agencies to permit CBDC use for defined benefits or within a specified time and/or particular location. The different use cases include:
- Direct benefit transfers to farmers against the generation of carbon credits.
- Loans to tenant farmers under Kisan Credit Card (KCC).
- Banks implementing employee allowances for meal or fuel purposes.
The Odisha government disbursed funds to 88,000 beneficiaries using digital rupees under the Subhadra Yojana Scheme. For context, this state government scheme provides women with financial assistance of Rs 10,000 yearly for five years.
Non-bank entities, including fintechs like MobiKwik and CRED, have been allowed to launch CBDC wallets. The RBI aims to “enhance adoption and improve distribution” through this approval.
WHAT’s next?
As of March 2025, 17 banks and 60 lakh users have engaged with the e₹-Retail pilot. The RBI aims to further expand the scope of ongoing digital rupee pilots in both e₹-Retail and e₹-Wholesale through the launch of new use cases and features. While the wholesale version of e-Rupee is meant for financial institutions like banks, the retail version is accessible to individuals for regular transactions.
On the Unified Lending Interface (ULI)
As of March 2025, the platform houses 44 lenders—including banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). These entities avail themselves of over 60 data services across 12 loan journeys, including KCC loans, digital cattle loans, and MSME loans, among others. The central bank aims to expand the scope and coverage of the platform to tap more products, data providers, and lenders.
These statistics follow the RBI’s push for ULI adoption among ecosystem players earlier this year. For context, ULI allows lenders to access authenticated data, including land records and other details from various sources via standardised APIs.
On fraud reporting
Besides its fintech department, the RBI shared the progress on the 2024-2025 goals of its Department of Supervision (DoS) for financial intermediaries.
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- Establishing a cyber range to improve the cyber incident response capability of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs). The project has been restructured and is currently set for execution by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), in coordination with the RBI’s Department of Information Technology (DIT) and the DoS. The RBI stated that the program is in the advanced stages of finalising its implementation modalities.
- Improving supervisory capabilities by leveraging SupTech data tools on micro-data analytics. The department has developed advanced analytical models, such as the governance assessment model, the social media monitoring model, and the fraud vulnerability index—thereby increasing AI/ML use. Development of additional models is currently underway.
Other fintech initiatives
The RBI noted that it has deployed MuleHunter.ai, its AI tool for real-time identification of mule accounts, across select large public sector banks. Additionally, the RBI recounted the establishment of a FREE-AI committee for the financial sector and the development of a framework for self-regulatory organisations in the fintech and account aggregator ecosystems.
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