The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently announced the expansion of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot program–more often referred to as the e-Rupee–to nine new cities. Five additional banks will also participate in the program, bringing the total number of banks involved to eight. The central bank began testing the e-rupee on retail clients in December of 2022.

The RBI has emphasized a gradual deployment of the e-rupee and is now providing the retail CBDC service to 50,000 customers on an invitation-only basis, with 5,000 of those users being merchants. With the number of transactions rising and the adoption process moving slowly and gradually, India’s central bank has expanded the pilot program for the e-rupee to nine further cities and five additional banks.

According to the Deputy Governor of the RBI, T. Rabi Sankar, the transition to the e-rupee has been carried out without a hitch up to this point, and the volume of transactions has been steadily increasing, amounting to around 7.7 lakh rupees. On November 1, 2022, the RBI made the CBDC available for wholesale usage, and on the first of December, it became available for retail use.