The Unified Payments Interface — India’s instant and interoperable retail payment system — clocked yet another record high in October this year at 7.3 billion transactions amounting to Rs 12.11 trillion. With growth rates of nearly 85 per cent by volume and 67.85 per cent by value over the previous year, UPI continues to lead the country’s now-storied leap to digital payments. The question therefore arises: What is the role of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in India? The recently released concept note by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) attempts to answer this question. A retail CBDC, or...