India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is currently testing the digital rupee for offline functionality. The RBI launched a pilot for the digital rupee in November 2022, onboarding 50,000 users and 5,000 merchants for real-world testing. So far, around $134 million and 800,000 transactions have been completed via wholesale CBDCs.

Ajay Kumar Choudhary, executive director of the RBI, said that the bank is now exploring the CBDC's potential for cross-border transactions and linkage with legacy systems in other countries. The goal is to improve regional financial inclusion and spearhead the digital economy. Choudhary also stated that CBDCs would eventually replace cryptocurrencies. The UPI PayNow integration also allows citizens from India and Singapore to send money across borders quickly, initially facilitated by six major banks.