D. Udaya Kumar of IIT Bombay designed the Indian Rupee symbol in 2009, before which the Indian currency had no graphic representation.

India's central bank digital currency, the digital rupee, crossed a million transactions in a day on Dec. 27, 2023 – but with at least a little help from retail banks' own employees.

What Happened: The five payment firms are planning to offer transactions via the e-rupee, the digital alternative to physical currency launched by the RBI in December 2022, Reuters reported.

India began piloting its CBDC in 2022, and saw meteoric growth, with more than 5 million investors and 400,000 merchants in the country experimenting with the digital rupee.

Indian banks disbursed some employee benefits through the digital rupee in December, helping the Reserve Bank of India meet its target of one million daily transactions by end-2023, three sources ...