Cash is king: why we can’t expect digital payments to dethrone paper money in India
Data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) throws up interesting trends. The currency in circulation was around ₹42.46 trillion in August and is increasing at a good pace. In fact, 2025-26 recorded an increase of ₹4.38 trillion, the largest after demonetization in 2016. In 2017-18, it increased by almost ₹5 trillion after a decline in 2016-17. During 2020-21, there was an increase of ₹4.14 trillion, the second most, amid covid as people accumulated cash as a safety buffer.
