Vishleshan for Regulatory Exams, 9th September 2025: India’s Digital Rupee and True Manufacturing Story

All those candidates who are eyeing exams like RBI, SEBI, or NABARD exams will have to stay updated with all the important economic and regulatory updates. In today’s edition of Vishleshan, we’ll discuss India’s Digital Rupee and the true picture of Indian Manufacturing. These issues are highly relevant for all the upcoming competitive exams mentioned above. Keep reading to stay ahead with a clear understanding of today’s topic.

The Rupee Reimagined: Is e₹ More Than Just Digital Cash?

Context: India’s e-rupee is not just a digital version of cash; it’s programmable money. Its true potential lies in solving major challenges like GST fraud, simplifying welfare delivery, and making cross-border remittances faster, cheaper, and more secure. Source: Mint

India’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the e-rupee, is a digital version of the Indian rupee issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Despite the widespread adoption of UPI, the e-rupee has the potential to offer unique benefits for financial inclusion, cross-border payments, and combating financial fraud. Its launch marks a significant step towards a more technologically advanced and inclusive financial system, leveraging blockchain technology for traceability and programmability. The article suggests that while UPI serves the banked population well, the e-rupee can address the needs of India’s vast unbanked and migrant population.

What is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)?

A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a digital form of a country’s fiat currency, issued and regulated by the nation’s central bank. Unlike cryptocurrencies, it is a legal tender and represents a direct liability of the central bank. The e-rupee (e₹) is India’s official CBDC.

CBDC vs. Cryptocurrencies and Stablecoins

Feature	CBDC (e₹)	Cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin)	Stablecoins (e.g., USDT)
Issuer	Central bank	Decentralized network of users	Private companies or entities
Regulation	Regulated by the central bank and the government	Largely unregulated; operates outside the traditional financial system	Varies; some are regulated, while others are not
Value	Stable; pegged 1:1 to the national fiat currency (₹)	Highly volatile; value determined by market supply and demand	Designed to be stable; pegged to an asset like a fiat currency, commodity, or algorithm
Legal Status	Legal tender	Not legal tender	Not legal tender
Purpose	Complementary to physical cash, for seamless digital transactions and financial inclusion	Store of value, speculative asset, or alternative payment method	Bridge between the volatile crypto world and stable fiat currencies

Indian CBDC (e₹):

• Initial Discussion: The RBI began exploring the concept of a CBDC in January 2017 to counter the rise of private cryptocurrencies and improve the efficiency of the payment system. The Finance Bill 2022 formally amended the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, to enable the RBI to issue a CBDC.
• Launch of Pilots: The RBI initiated a phased pilot program for the Digital Rupee in 2022.
  • Wholesale CBDC (e₹-W): The first pilot was launched on November 1, 2022, with a limited use case for the settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. Its purpose was to make the inter-bank market more efficient and reduce transaction costs.
  • Retail CBDC (e₹-R): The retail pilot was launched on December 1, 2022, within a closed user group. This pilot, currently ongoing with a growing number of participating banks, allows individuals and merchants to conduct transactions using a digital wallet. The e₹-R is a digital token that represents a legal tender and is issued in the same denominations as physical currency.

Key Reasons for Launching the e-rupee:

There are several reasons for India’s push for the e-rupee:

• Financial Inclusion: The e-rupee wallets offer a cheap, secure, and quick way to remit funds for India’s vast migrant population, who may not have access to traditional banking infrastructure. This makes it more effective than UPI for the unbanked.
• Efficiency and Cost Reduction: A CBDC can reduce the costs and operational hassles associated with printing, distributing, and managing physical currency.
• Combating Financial Crime: The traceability offered by the underlying distributed ledger technology (blockchain) can help in curbing financial fraud. The article cites the example of ₹1.8 trillion in GST input tax credit fraud over the last five years, which could be eliminated if payments were made via the e-rupee.
• Cross-Border Payments: The e-rupee can facilitate faster, more secure, and cheaper cross-border transactions. This is particularly important for India, the world’s largest recipient of remittances.
• Sovereignty and Monetary Control: A state-backed digital currency provides the central bank with greater control over monetary policy and helps in maintaining financial stability in a world where private digital currencies are gaining prominence.
• Digital Leadership: The RBI aims to position India at the forefront of the evolution of digital money.

Analysis of the Article: Decoding the Issue

The article addresses the central question: “When we have UPI, why do we need an e-rupee?” It argues that while UPI has achieved phenomenal success with over 700 million daily transactions, it is not a complete solution.

• The UPI-e₹ distinction: The article clarifies that UPI is an instant payment system that transfers funds between bank accounts. The e-rupee, however, is a digital form of cash itself. It doesn’t necessarily require a bank account, making it a powerful tool for financial inclusion for those who are unbanked or underbanked.
• Use Cases for e₹:
  • Financial Inclusion for Migrants: The article points out that migrant workers can send money to their families in remote areas, where bank branches are rare, using e-rupee wallets. This bypasses the need to access ATMs, which may be out of cash or difficult to use.
  • Government Welfare Transfers: CBDC technology permits ‘programmed’ or preset flows of money, allowing the government to disburse welfare benefits directly to recipients’ wallets, thus eliminating middlemen and reducing leakage.
  • Taxation and Fraud Prevention: The traceability on the blockchain ledger means that transactions can be tracked. This is a crucial advantage for tax compliance, as it can help in detecting and preventing frauds like the ₹1.8 trillion GST fraud. It could also make physical inspections and e-way bills for goods transport redundant.
• Broader Economic Implications: The article also touches upon the long-term strategic importance of the e-rupee, including its potential role in global cross-border payments. It suggests that the US dollar’s status as a global anchor currency may not be permanent and that a CBDC could be prepared to integrate with future alternative systems.

In essence, the article argues that while UPI has revolutionized digital payments for the banked population, the e-rupee is a different, more fundamental form of digital money with a distinct set of applications. Its unique features like traceability, programmability, and a “bearer-like” characteristic (similar to cash) are crucial for addressing key challenges in financial inclusion, fraud prevention, and cross-border payments, making it a vital component of India’s future financial landscape.

The 14% Illusion: The Real Story of Indian Manufacturing is Brighter

Context: Worries about manufacturing’s declining 14% share in India’s economy are misplaced. This article deconstructs the numbers, revealing that the decline is a price-based illusion, while arguing for a bold new R&D-focused strategy to achieve true global competitiveness. Source: Mint

The article examines a seemingly contradictory trend in the Indian economy: the declining share of manufacturing in Gross Value Added (GVA) despite a steady share in Gross Value of Output (GVO). It argues that this is not a sign of de-industrialization but rather a reflection of price dynamics and high intermediate consumption in the manufacturing sector. The article then emphasizes the need for a strategic shift in Indian manufacturing to become globally indispensable, highlighting key government initiatives and the role of the private sector in achieving this goal.

Contribution of Sectors to GDP:

• Primary Sector (Agriculture and Mining): This sector’s share in India’s GDP has been consistently declining, which is a common trend in developing economies as they transition. However, its GVA price deflator has risen sharply, supported by government policies like guaranteed price increases, which has helped its nominal share from collapsing.
• Secondary Sector (Manufacturing, Construction, etc.): The share of manufacturing, a crucial component of this sector, has been a key area of concern. The article states that its contribution to GVA has slipped from nearly 18% two decades ago to below 14% today. However, its share in real (constant price) terms has remained steady at 18%. This discrepancy is the central puzzle the article addresses.

• Tertiary Sector (Services): The services sector has been the primary driver of India’s economic growth, with its share in GDP and GVA rising significantly over the past two decades. This sector enjoys greater pricing power, leading to a higher price deflator compared to manufacturing.

For India to become a developed nation by 2047, a robust and globally competitive manufacturing sector is essential. It is crucial for creating large-scale employment, reducing dependence on imports, and enhancing India’s position in global value chains. The government aims to increase manufacturing’s share in GDP to 25% to achieve this vision.

Government’s Strategic Focus on Manufacturing:

The Indian government has recognized the importance of the manufacturing sector and has launched several key initiatives to boost it:

• National Manufacturing Policy (2011): This policy aimed to increase the manufacturing sector’s share in GDP to 25% by 2022 and create 100 million jobs.
• National Manufacturing Mission (NMM): The Union Budget for FY 2025-26 announced a new NMM to promote clean technology and build an ecosystem for manufacturing sectors like solar cells and EV batteries. It focuses on easing business costs, developing in-demand jobs, supporting MSMEs, and leveraging modern technology.
• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes: These schemes provide incentives on incremental sales from domestically manufactured products. They cover 14 key sectors and are designed to attract investments, boost domestic manufacturing, and reduce imports. The article mentions that a renewed focus is needed to make them more effective.
• PM Gati Shakti – National Master Plan: Launched in 2021, this is a $1.2 trillion USD megaproject that brings together 16 different ministries on a single digital platform for integrated planning of infrastructure projects like roads, railways, and ports. It aims to reduce logistics costs, improve multi-modal connectivity, and make Indian businesses more competitive.
• National Logistics Policy (NLP): Launched in 2022, the NLP aims to reduce India’s high logistics costs (which are currently at 13-14% of GDP) to the global average of about 8%. This will make Indian goods more competitive both domestically and internationally.
• Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) and RDI Scheme: The article highlights these initiatives as a move to encourage R&D and innovation. It mentions that India must identify and become indispensable in a handful of critical technologies to gain outsized global leverage, emulating companies like ASML, TSMC, and Arm.

Decoding the Economic Puzzle: Numbers and Analysis

The article’s core argument is that the declining nominal share of manufacturing is not a sign of de-industrialization but an economic anomaly explained by price dynamics.

• Gross Value of Output (GVO) vs. Gross Value Added (GVA):
  • GVO represents the total value of goods and services produced. The article states that manufacturing’s share in GVO has held steady at around 38%, almost the same as services.
  • GVA is the ‘net contribution’ of a sector after subtracting the cost of intermediate consumption (inputs). The manufacturing sector uses a very large amount of intermediate inputs, making its net contribution (GVA) look smaller than its gross output.
• Price Deflators: The article uses price deflators to compare the price changes in different sectors over time. A deflator is the ratio of GVA at current prices to GVA at constant prices.
  • The agricultural price deflator stood at 2.17 by FY 2024-25 from a base of 1, while manufacturing’s deflator was only 1.41 and services was 1.75.
  • This indicates that prices in the agriculture and services sectors have risen much faster than in manufacturing.
  • As a result, manufacturing’s relative price compared to agriculture has fallen by half (1.29 to 0.65) over two decades, and against services, it has slipped by a quarter (to 0.81) by 2024-25.
  • This muted price growth in manufacturing, driven by global competition and cost-cutting technologies, is the primary reason why its nominal GVA share has fallen, even while its output and real GVA have grown.

The Way Forward

To build a manufacturing powerhouse, the article suggests several critical steps:

1. Strategic Indispensability: Instead of mass-producing everything, India should identify and dominate a few niche, critical technologies, similar to how companies like TSMC and ASML have created global technological choke points.
2. Private Sector’s Role: Indian firms must shed their risk-averse mindset and invest heavily in R&D and innovation, moving away from low-cost, repetitive services. The success of the Indian pharma sector in overcoming the TRIPS challenge through R&D investment serves as a model.
3. Regulatory Reform: The government needs to implement smart regulation and reduce protectionism. Regulations must be simplified and their economic costs and benefits, particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), must be carefully considered.
4. GST Rationalization: The rationalization of GST into a two-slab system and the correction of inverse duty structures (where taxes on raw materials are higher than on final products) will lower input costs, boost demand, and make Indian goods more competitive.
5. International Engagement: India must turn the challenge of high tariff barriers in key markets into an opportunity to raise its manufacturing standards to a global level.

The article concludes with a powerful quote, “Without a strong manufacturing industry, there will be no country and no nation,” underscoring the vital link between a robust manufacturing sector and national strength. The path to a “Viksit Bharat” (Developed India) by 2047 is intrinsically tied to the revitalization and strategic elevation of its manufacturing sector.