Fee on UPI may nudge retail users towards central bank digital currency

The value of bank notes in circulation in CBDC-R was at ₹771.66 crore as on 31 March, 2026, lower than ₹1,016.46 crore as on 31 March, 2025. The value of bank notes in circulation under CBDC-W, was nil as the wholesale segment is being used for settling large value transactions among financial institutions and has an auto redemption feature, and thus, does not reflect the transaction volumes and values. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, had at an international conference in July, said CBDC had now reached 12 million users, and more than 175 million transactions were processed worth nearly ₹400 billion since launch.