India pushes digital rupee through welfare pilots as BRICS CBDC plan takes shape

Farmers and food programs anchor 10 pilots aimed at boosting usage, while New Delhi eyes BRICS CBDC link ahead of 2026 summit What to know : India is routing portions of its roughly $80 billion welfare system through the e-rupee in about 10 pilot programs to curb leakage and corruption while giving its central bank digital currency a clearer use case. Targeted pilots in states like Maharashtra and Gujarat use programmable subsidies and food benefits to drive adoption, but e-rupee usage remains modest compared with the Unified Payments Interface, which handles about $300 billion in transactions each month. As India tests domestic applications, the Reserve Bank of India is pushing a plan to link CBDCs across BRICS nations to reduce reliance on the dollar, a move that risks provoking U.S. tariffs and broader geopolitical tensions.