Nirmala Sitharaman urges RBI to enhance digital rupee capabilities

At the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged the Reserve Bank of India to enhance its digital rupee platform, specifically boosting both wholesale and retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) capabilities.

Sitharaman highlighted the importance of tokenisation in the evolving financial system, noting that digital assets and platforms are increasingly expanding across borders. She cited a successful pilot by REC Limited, which completed India’s first tokenised corporate bond under the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s regulatory sandbox. This pilot demonstrated how tokenisation and the digital rupee can work in tandem to enable near-instantaneous settlement, where the bond and the digital rupee move at the exact same moment.

The Finance Minister also addressed the risks of Artificial Intelligence, describing it as a “double-edged sword” that can both detect and facilitate fraud. She called for improved coordination between financial regulators, data protection authorities, and cybersecurity agencies to ensure that innovation does not create systemic fragility and that efficiency and safety remain mutually reinforcing.