India is expanding its e-rupee pilot into welfare payments for agriculture and subsidised food distribution, in a bid to reduce leakage and corruption in its roughly $80 billion subsidy system. The Reserve Bank of India’s programme, backed by the World Bank, state authorities and Punjab National Bank, now has about 10 million users, though it still trails far behind UPI in scale.
Officials say the programmable nature of the CBDC can ensure funds are used only for intended purposes while easing upfront payments for farmers. The move is being seen as an effort to give the e-rupee a clearer real-world use case, similar to China’s wider CBDC rollout.
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