Digital rupee in circulation falls 24% to ₹771.7 crore even as RBI expands programmable and cross-border pilots

Reserve Bank of India/Digital rupee (e₹)

The RBI's 2025-26 annual report shows e₹ in circulation at ₹771.7 crore on March 31, 2026, down from ₹1,016.5 crore a year earlier. During the year it ran CBDC pilots for government benefit transfers, including food subsidies paid as programmable e₹ in Gujarat, Puducherry and Chandigarh.

• A wholesale-CBDC pilot for tokenised certificates of deposit has started on the Unified Markets Interface.
• Talks with Singapore's MAS and the UAE central bank aim at a cross-border CBDC pilot.
• India joined BIS projects Rialto and Mandala (phase 2) on cross-border payments.