E-rupee circulation in India sees over fourfold surge to ₹1,000 crore; RBI eyes cross-border CBDC pilots

The value of India’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) in retail form, e₹-Retail (e₹-R), surged more than fourfold to ₹1,016.46 crore as of March 31, 2025, up from ₹234.04 crore a year earlier, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its annual report released on Thursday.

Launched in late 2022, India’s CBDC has gained momentum through expanded pilot programs and targeted use cases. The RBI said it is now exploring bilateral and multilateral cross-border payment pilots using the digital rupee to tackle longstanding issues of turnaround time, efficiency, and transparency in international transactions.

“Bilateral cross-border CBDC pilots with select countries are being actively explored and progress has been made in finalisation of roadmap, technical aspects and use cases,” the RBI said, adding that participation in multilateral initiatives under the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub is also being considered.

The CBDC-R pilots have expanded to include programmability features and offline capabilities. Select non-banks have been roped in to distribute CBDC wallets, while standalone primary dealers have joined the CBDC-Wholesale (CBDC-W) ecosystem.

As at end-March 2025, the e-rupee retail pilot was expanded to 17 banks and 60 lakh users.

Programmable use cases tested include direct benefit transfers tied to carbon credit generation and loans for tenant farmers under the Kisan Credit Card scheme.

Under Odisha’s Subhadra Yojana, the e₹ has been used to disburse payments to around 88,000 beneficiaries. The RBI said discussions are ongoing with several central and state government agencies to utilise CBDC programmability for fund transfers with defined end uses.

The CBDC was first introduced in November 2022, initially with a wholesale pilot, which was followed up with a retail one as well.

“Simplifying cross-border payments was one of the stated advantages of the CBDC, which had to be introduced in face of the challenge to the currency system from non-fiat virtual currencies like Bitcoins,” the central bank said.