India To Introduce New Use Cases For Digital Rupee

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to expand the scope of its digital rupee pilot programs by incorporating new features and use cases for both its retail and wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), as outlined in the central bank’s Annual Report for 2024–25.

The central bank expressed its intention to investigate programmability and offline capabilities for the digital rupee, enhancements that could boost its usability in regions with poor internet connectivity and facilitate payments for specific scenarios such as government subsidies or corporate expenditure restrictions.

At present, both types of CBDCs are in the pilot testing phase. The retail CBDC trial is being carried out with selected customers and merchants through affiliated banks, while the wholesale pilot is focused on its use within the interbank market.