India’s Digital Rupee Pilot Sets Benchmark for CBDC Rollouts, Says Polygon Labs Payments Head
Central banks around the world are looking for, testing and actively piloted digital currencies from the Central Bank (CBDC), several countries are already deploying digital money for public use. However, despite growing interest, the daily adoption of citizens remains limited.
CBDCs offer several clear advantages. They allow governments and central banks to more effectively implement monetary policies, which makes processes such as tax deductions and foreign investment regulations. In addition, CBDCs reduce the costs and complexities of printing and management of physical money.
India, widely recognized for its digital payment success with UPI, is now considering its next step with programmable digital money. The country launched its digital curly pilot in December 2022 and, at the beginning of 2024, it joined 1.3 million users and more than 300,000 merchants. The pilot uses an offline model based on tokens and gently integrates into the existing digital infrastructure like UPI and Aadhaar.
Aishwary Gupta, a global official of Polygon Labs payments, has opened the way different countries learn from their CBDC experiences. “In 2024, more than 130 countries, representing 98% of world GDP, explored CBDC,” said Gupta in an interview with Coinpedia. “But the adoption is uneven. China E-CNY has more than 260 million portfolios and has treated more than $ 250 billion, but its daily use remains limited. Nigeria inès had trouble adopting, mainly due to trust shortcomings and public services. ”
He added that the early success of India is thanks to its strong digital infrastructure and its public-private collaboration. GUPTA thinks that CBDCs must take up the challenges of the real world such as financial inclusion and sending funds while preserving privacy to gain public confidence.
“Public-private partnerships, solid identity executives and clear communication are essential. In the end, confidence in CBDC is not built by the program, but by design, transparency and impact,” said the expert.
The biggest debate: control VS confidentiality
While central banks argue that CBDCs are supposed to complete the species, not replace them, criticisms argue that they could possibly tighten government control over monetary systems. While the world moves to tokenized assets and decentralized technologies, concerns about privacy, surveillance and financial freedom in a CBDC economy continue to grow.
The global experience of the CBDC is still at its beginnings, but conversations around confidence, privacy and the role of central banks in the digital future become stronger.
