India's central bank digital currency experiment has reached a significant milestone: 100 million individual wallets are now active on the e₹ platform. The digital rupee, launched as a pilot in December 2022, has grown from a niche experiment to a mainstream payment alternative in just over three years.
What Drove Adoption
The RBI attributes the surge to three factors: integration with UPI apps that Indians already use daily, incentive programs for merchants, and offline transaction capability that works in areas with poor internet connectivity. The offline feature, which allows NFC-based payments without an internet connection, has been particularly popular in rural areas.
Merchant acceptance has grown to over 5 million outlets, with small retailers and street vendors increasingly preferring e₹ for its zero transaction fees — unlike UPI, which imposes charges on high-value business transactions.
How It Compares
- e₹ transactions per day: 8 million (up from 300,000 a year ago)
- Average transaction value: ₹420
- Most popular use cases: grocery shopping, transit, and utility payments
- China's e-CNY: approximately 300 million wallets but lower daily usage per capita
"The digital rupee complements UPI rather than competing with it. Its real promise is programmable money — the ability to attach conditions to currency for targeted subsidies and social transfers," said former RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar.
The RBI plans to introduce programmable features for government subsidy disbursements in the next phase, potentially transforming how welfare payments reach beneficiaries.
