RBI Eyes Global Push for Digital Rupee With Cross-Border Payment Pilots

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to broaden the scope of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilots, with a particular focus on enhancing cross-border payment mechanisms. The move, outlined in the central bank’s annual report released on Thursday, aims to address persistent challenges such as turnaround time, efficiency and transparency in international transactions.

The banking regulator said that it would further expand the scope and coverage of ongoing CBDC pilots in retail (e₹-Retail) and wholesale (e₹-Wholesale) segments. As a part of the initiative, it will introduce new use cases and features, besides bringing improvements to technological aspects of the account aggregator framework to enhance transparency, customer convenience and efficiency.

The RBI launched the first pilots for e₹-Wholesale in November 2022 and for e₹-Retail in December 2022, with selected banks.

As part of the broader strategy, the central bank also set to begin work on a it will embark upon drafting a a new Payments Vision document, to succeed the current Payments Vision 2025, which concludes in 2025–26. "Internationalisation of domestic payment systems will also remain a key priority and the Reserve Bank will continue to explore collaboration with other countries on a bilateral as well as multilateral level," the report read.

In parallel, the RBI is developing a Digital Payments Intelligence Platform to leverage emerging technologies for tackling fraud in the digital payments ecosystem. In order to make the financial system more resilient, sound, safe and inclusive, the RBI would be undertaking several initiatives in areas such as regulation, supervision, FinTech, payment systems, customer protection and financial inclusion. Moreover, the central bank would leverage on technology towards providing secure, accessible, affordable and an efficient financial sector.

Meanwhile, the PRAVAAH portal, introduced in May 2024 to streamline regulatory applications, has been made mandatory from 1 May 2025 for all regulated entities (REs) submitting applications to the RBI.

On the broader health of the financial sector, the report noted that India’s banking system remains resilient. However, the RBI cautioned that rising global uncertainties underscore the need for proactive risk management.

"Considering the dynamic nature of the interest rate risk, banks need to address both trading and banking book risks, especially in light of moderation in NIM [net interest margins," the central bank noted.