India Expands Offline e-Rupee Pilot to Rural Areas Targeting Feature-Phone Users

India's central bank digital currency (CBDC) is venturing beyond metro areas, testing offline functionality in regions with poor connectivity. The Reserve Bank of India's pilot now targets 400 million feature-phone users through Bluetooth-enabled transactions with ₹2,000 wallet limits.

The retail e-rupee currently serves six million users across 17 banks, with ₹130 crore (≈$16 million) in circulation as of March 2025. While dwarfed by UPI's 13 billion monthly transactions, the offline capability addresses critical gaps in India's digital payment infrastructure.

This technological pivot could position India as the first nation to deploy a scalable CBDC solution for feature phones—particularly crucial in Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, and North-Eastern states where 2G networks remain unreliable.