India promotes the application of the digital rupee through welfare pilot programs and advances the BRICS central bank digital currency interconnection plan

India is promoting the application of the digital rupee through about 10 welfare pilot projects, distributing part of the approximately $80 billion in subsidies and food benefits via e-rupee to reduce fund leakage and corruption, and to provide a clearer use case for central bank digital currency.

At the same time, the Reserve Bank of India is pushing for a cross-member CBDC interconnection plan to be proposed at the 2026 BRICS summit, aiming to enhance the efficiency of cross-border trade settlements and reduce reliance on the US dollar. Currently, there are about 10 million e-rupee users, with a cumulative transaction amount of approximately $3.6 billion, which is still significantly lower than the UPI system that processes about $300 billion in transactions monthly in India.