India Pushes Digital Rupee Through Welfare Pilots as BRICS CBDC Plan Takes Shape 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. India is turning to welfare payments to drive adoption of its central bank digital currency as it prepares to put the CBDC in the spotlight at a summit of BRICS nations later this year. The Reserve Bank of India is running about 10 pilot programs routing portions of the country’s roughly $80 billion welfare system through the e-rupee, Reuters reported Thursday. The effort aims to reduce leakage and corruption in subsidy programs while giving the CBDC a clearer use case after a slow rollout. In Maharashtra’s Phulenagar village, farmers are receiving programmable subsidies covering up to 80% of drip-irrigation costs, spendable only at approved vendors. A separate pilot in Gujarat aims to onboard all 7….
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