Digital Rupee vs Stablecoins
India now runs three connected experiments in digital money. The first is the RBI's e-rupee, central-bank money in digital form, in pilot since December 2022. The second is what that money can be told to do: on 14 August 2026 Chandigarh launches food subsidy under the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana as programmable e-rupee tokens that land in a beneficiary's wallet and are spent at listed shops, with Dadra & Nagar Haveli launched virtually from the same event. The third is the global rush into stablecoins, private tokens pegged mostly to the US dollar, which the United States legalised through the GENIUS Act in 2025. The RBI's answer stays the same: build the sovereign digital rupee, keep private stablecoins out.
- Digital Rupee
- e-rupee
- CBDC
- RBI
- stablecoins
- GENIUS Act
- Section 115BBH
- monetary sovereignty
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