India is preparing to roll out a digital currency issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), part of a broader strategy to discourage the use of private cryptocurrencies that lack sovereign or asset backing. The announcement was made by Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal during his visit to Doha, as ANI reported.
According to Goyal, the upcoming RBI-backed digital rupee will simplify transactions, cut down on paper usage, and make payments faster, more transparent, and easier to track compared to traditional banking systems.
While India has not completely banned privately issued cryptocurrencies, Goyal emphasized that the government is deliberately taxing them heavily. The aim, he said, is to prevent people from holding assets that have “no guarantee or backing” and could collapse at any time.
The timing of the move is notable. India, Pakistan, and Vietnam currently lead in global crypto adoption, with Chainalysis’s 2025 Global Adoption Index showing Asia-Pacific transaction volumes rising from $1.4 trillion to $2.36 trillion year-on-year.
Raj Kapoor, founder and CEO of the India Blockchain Alliance, told Decrypt that the minister’s remarks underscore the government’s vision of central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a cornerstone of fintech strategy. He noted that the phrase “backed by RBI guarantee” is particularly significant, positioning the digital rupee as a safer alternative to volatile, unbacked tokens such as meme coins and speculative DeFi projects.
Kapoor predicted India would adopt a hybrid regulatory framework, where crypto issuers would be required to maintain fiat or commodity reserves in regulated custody and undergo routine audits. This, he said, points to a pivot from India’s earlier “tax-and-tolerate” stance to a tiered compliance model that favors regulated, asset-backed tokens.
Monica Jasuja, chief expansion and innovation officer at Emerging Payments Association Asia, echoed the sentiment, calling the RBI’s move “a clear attempt to merge trust with technology.” She likened the digital rupee to a state-guaranteed stablecoin, sending a strong message to fintechs to align with the state rather than operate outside it.
For investors, Jasuja added, the digital rupee may present a “safer but narrower” option, with capital likely shifting toward compliance-oriented ventures instead of speculative crypto projects.
The RBI has already run pilot programs for the digital rupee in both retail and wholesale use cases, giving India a head start in CBDC adoption. Still, experts caution that uncertainty around crypto regulation has created a policy deadlock, with as much as 80–85% of India’s top crypto talent relocating abroad due to unclear frameworks for private cryptocurrencies.
