The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering increasing the use of digital rupee in welfare payments and cross-border transactions. This is a big step towards making the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) accessible to more and more people. This is likely to strengthen e-Rupee in foreign countries also.
In its annual report for 2025-26 released on Friday, RBI said that it ran several welfare pilot programs related to CBDC in states and union territories like Gujarat, Puducherry and Chandigarh during this financial year. Under these programs, beneficiaries received food subsidy through e-Rupee. The central bank also said that many government agencies have also started trials of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes using the programmable features of CBDC.
RBI said that at the institutional level, many government agencies have launched pilot projects in different Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes. The programmability feature of CBDC is being taken advantage of in these projects, so that proper and effective use of public funds can be ensured.
RBI also plans to introduce plastic notes
Reserve Bank of India is considering introducing plastic notes in the country. This decision is being taken in view of the huge demand for cash in the last few years, the increasing cost of printing of paper notes and the problem of their quick spoilage. The idea of plastic notes is not new at the global level. Currently, about 60 countries around the world are using polymer bank notes. This initiative was started by Australia in the year 1988 by printing a 10 dollar note. After this, countries from Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand to Malaysia have adopted it.
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