Yes—but as a set of connected, distinct layers, not one unified financial system. UPI handles payments, Account Aggregators enable consent-based financial-data sharing, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is testing digital rupee and wholesale settlement use cases. The pilots point toward newer infrastructure, but do not establish a nationwide digital-rupee rollout or a broadly deployed tokenised-assets market.
What does India’s financial infrastructure stack include?
These systems address different needs. UPI is a payment interface; the digital rupee, or e₹, is a form of central-bank money held in a wallet; Account Aggregators (AAs) facilitate consent-based sharing of financial information. Wholesale e₹ pilots explore how central-bank money might settle transactions involving financial institutions and tokenised instruments. The RBI describes e₹ as a digital form of the rupee, distinct from UPI, which is a means of payment. RBI FAQ, updated 1 October 2026
| Layer | What it does | Who it serves | Current status in the cited official material |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPI | Provides a way to make payments. | People and merchants using participating payment services. | Payment infrastructure; e₹ wallets can use UPI QR codes for payments. RBI Annual Report 2023–24 |
| Retail e₹ | Digital rupee issued by the RBI and held in an e₹ wallet; the RBI says it is legal tender and an RBI liability. | Public users transacting through participating banks and non-banks. | Issuance, distribution and use remain in a pilot. RBI FAQ, updated 1 October 2026 |
| Wholesale e₹ | Tests central-bank-money settlement for selected financial-market transactions. | Participating financial institutions. | Named use cases are pilots, not evidence of an open, mature tokenised-assets marketplace. RBI FAQ, updated 1 October 2026 |
| Account Aggregator | Transfers financial information between institutions when a person gives an instruction and explicit consent. | Individuals and participating financial-information providers and users. | A framework for consent-based data exchange; registration is voluntary. Department of Financial Services |
The Ministry of Finance has described AAs as a data-exchange layer that complements Aadhaar’s identity function and UPI’s payment function. That is a useful way to see the stack: identity, payments, data sharing and settlement can work alongside one another without becoming the same product. Ministry of Finance release, 2 September 2025
What is the difference between UPI and the digital rupee?
UPI is a way to initiate and route a payment. The e₹ is money: a digital form of rupee issued by the RBI and held in a digital-rupee wallet. It is not simply a new name for a UPI payment, nor does using a UPI app or QR code necessarily mean a payment is made in e₹.
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Paying from an e₹ wallet at a UPI QR code
An e₹ wallet can scan a UPI QR code, giving it access to familiar merchant acceptance infrastructure. But the payment then follows UPI settlement timelines. A payment between e₹ wallets using a CBDC QR code instead settles between those wallets. The QR scan can look similar; the payment rail and settlement are different. RBI FAQ, updated 1 October 2026
Is the digital rupee live, and what can retail users do with it?
The retail e₹ pilot is live through participating banks and non-banks. The RBI describes person-to-person and merchant transactions through wallets, but the pilot’s existence should not be read as a completed nationwide rollout. The RBI FAQ updated 1 October 2026 lists 19 banks offering retail CBDC wallets. RBI FAQ
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Programmable and offline payments
The RBI says programmable CBDC can restrict funds using parameters such as purpose, expiry, location or merchant category. It is being used to explore targeted payments, rather than indicating that all e₹ balances or payments are programmable. Offline functionality is also being explored; the available RBI material does not establish that offline payments are universally available. RBI Annual Report 2024–25
The RBI’s 2024–25 annual report says e₹ was used as a payment channel for around 88,000 beneficiaries under Odisha’s Subhadra Yojana. That is a specific programme example, not a measure of total retail e₹ users or general adoption. RBI Annual Report 2024–25
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A tokenised asset is a financial instrument represented in tokenised form. In the RBI material, the phrase relates to specific wholesale CBDC pilot use cases; it does not mean cryptoassets, and the pilots do not establish general public access to tokenised securities.
Wholesale use cases identified by the RBI
- Secondary-market settlement of government securities.
- Interbank lending and borrowing in the call-money market.
- Tokenised issuance and settlement of certificates of deposit and corporate bonds.
These are named pilot applications, not proof that tokenised certificates of deposit or corporate bonds are already traded in a mature, broadly available market. The RBI’s stated rationale is that central-bank money could serve as a settlement anchor for tokenised financial markets. RBI FAQ, updated 1 October 2026
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does Account Aggregator fit in?
An AA is a data-sharing intermediary, not a payment method or investment product. It enables financial information to move between participating institutions when the customer instructs and explicitly consents to the transfer. Participation is voluntary. In practical terms, it supplies a consent-based data layer that can complement payment and settlement infrastructure without itself moving money. Department of Financial Services
How large is the framework?
The figures below come from different dates and use different measures, so they should not be treated as a like-for-like growth series or as counts of transactions.
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| Snapshot | Reported measure | What the measure means |
|---|---|---|
| 2 September 2025, Ministry of Finance | More than 2.2 billion AA-enabled accounts; 112.34 million users had linked accounts. | Framework reach and linked users as reported in the ministry’s anniversary release. Source |
| 31 March 2026, Department of Financial Services | More than 2.88 billion enabled accounts; 284.6 million linked accounts; 179 Financial Information Providers and 989 Financial Information Users. | Framework account and institution counts in the department’s dated snapshot; linked accounts are not a stated count of unique users. Source |
What is the RBI exploring next, and what remains unresolved?
The RBI’s 2024–25 annual report identifies offline use, programmability, cross-border transactions and asset tokenisation as directions for CBDC pilots. It says bilateral cross-border pilots were actively being explored. These are areas of experimentation, not commitments to a finished service or launch date. RBI Annual Report 2024–25
The official material supports a picture of operational payment and data-sharing frameworks alongside limited CBDC pilots. It does not set out a complete retail e₹ rollout timetable, establish full commercial adoption of tokenised certificates of deposit or corporate bonds, or specify the final design of a broad tokenised-asset market. The RBI’s CBDC concept note provides background on design choices, but should not be mistaken for confirmation of a final architecture. RBI Concept Note on Central Bank Digital Currency
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