Digital Rupee Surpasses 1 Million Transactions in a Day with Help from Bank Employees

According to CoinDesk, India's central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital rupee, recorded over a million transactions in a single day on December 27, 2023. This milestone was achieved with assistance from retail banks' employees, who were encouraged to deposit their funds and benefits using the CBDC instead of the existing fiat currency. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das confirmed this achievement in a letter dated December 29. However, it is unclear whether the digital rupee has maintained a daily transaction volume of more than 1 million since then. The RBI is currently running retail and wholesale CBDC pilots, with the retail pilot active in over 15 cities and involving more than a dozen banks. Despite India's widespread cashless movement through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the digital rupee has struggled to reach high transaction volumes, averaging only around 25,000 transactions per day. To boost transaction volumes, some government-owned and private sector banks deposited the salaries and benefits of their employees into their CBDC wallets last month, as reported by Reuters. The All India Union Bank Employees Federation, a trade union for bank employees, expressed dissatisfaction with the move, stating that management cannot force employees to use the wallet. However, a representative from the All India Union Bank Employees Association, N. Shankar, disagreed, saying that there is nothing wrong with promoting CBDC wallet transactions among bank employees. The RBI and the banking sector often collaborate on promoting best practices, but it is unclear whether banks have previously taken such measures. The RBI has not yet responded to CoinDesk's request for comment.