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Informist, Friday, May 29, 2026

--RBI: To expand CBDC pilot in direct benefit transfer schemes 

--RBI: To expand CBDC pilot to cover new use cases 

--RBI: To expand CBDC pilot to new use cases in domestic retail space 

--RBI: To explore more CBDC pilots on tokenisation of financial assets 

--RBI: Intend to operationalise bilateral CBDC pilots with select use cases 

MUMBAI – The Reserve Bank of India intends to expand its Central Bank Digital Currency e-rupee pilot to direct benefit transfer schemes and in domestic retail in 2026-27 (Apr-Mar). The value of bank notes in circulation in the form of retail e-rupee was INR 7.72 billion as of Mar. 31, down from INR 10.16 billion a year ago, the RBI said in its annual report for FY26 released Friday. 

The central bank has already launched CBDC pilots under both the Centre and state government direct benefit transfer schemes in FY26, according to the report. The central bank also aims to explore more pilots on the tokenisation of financial assets, which would be settled using the e-rupee. In FY26, the central bank developed a Unified Markets Interface to aid tokenisation and initiated a pilot on tokenisation of certificates of deposit on the platform, the report said. The RBI also aims to include more participants in e-rupee pilots.

In FY27, the central bank will provide a framework for testing products and services that leverage the e-rupee under the CBDC and Asset Tokenisation sandbox it launched at the global fintech festival in 2025, the report said. An offline CBDC is being tested, including proximity-based near-field communication and non-proximity-based short message services, the report said.

The RBI is also looking at furthering bilateral and multilateral cross-border e-rupee pilots, it said. The central bank is engaging in multilateral cross-border payment projects on technical and governance standards, the report said.  End

Reported by Cassandra Carvalho

Edited by Saji George Titus

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