What do you mean by Digital Rupee? In this context, explain the working and progress of India’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). (150 words)

Digital Rupee: meaning

RBI issues tokens or account balances through banks and approved wallets; users transact person-to-person or merchant-to-merchant, including offline pilots. It can improve settlement speed, programmability and financial access while preserving monetary sovereignty. The retail and wholesale pilots have expanded, with UPI interoperability, offline functionality and use-case experimentation. Adoption remains constrained by wallet familiarity, incentives, privacy, cyber-security and the continuing convenience of UPI.

A calibrated expansion should ensure privacy-by-design, offline resilience, interoperability, consumer protection and clear limits on programmability. e₹ should complement, not displace, cash and bank deposits.

science and technology; emerging technology; strategic application; India