# Digital Rupee QR

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/digital-rupee-qr
> research date 2026-06-04 · extracted at 2026-10-07
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

Specifications:
- [Digital rupee — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rupee)
- [CBDC–UPI QR code interoperability — MediaNama](https://www.medianama.com/2023/07/223-cbdc-upi-qr-code-interoperability/)

## Overview

The **Digital Rupee (e₹)** is the **central bank digital currency (CBDC) of India**, issued by the **Reserve Bank of India (RBI)** as a **tokenised digital version of the rupee** <sup>[1][1]</sup>. Its retail variant, **e₹-R**, launched as a pilot on **1 December 2022** within a closed user group of customers and merchants <sup>[1][1]</sup>. e₹-R behaves like physical cash: it is held in a wallet, denominated in the **same values as banknotes and coins** (e₹1, e₹2, e₹5 … e₹2,000, plus paisa), and transferred peer-to-peer or to merchants <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

The **defining feature of the e₹ QR layer is UPI interoperability**. From 2023, participating banks made e₹-R wallets able to **scan and pay against ordinary [UPI QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/upi-qr) merchant QR codes** <sup>[2][2], [3][3]</sup>. This means a merchant needs only **one QR code at checkout** — the existing UPI/BharatQR code — and the customer chooses whether to pay from a bank account (UPI) or from their digital-rupee wallet (CBDC). The e₹ does not field a separate CBDC-specific QR network; it **rides India's existing UPI QR rail** <sup>[3][3]</sup>.

## History

**November 1, 2022 — Wholesale pilot (e₹-W)** <sup>[1][1]</sup>: the RBI launched the wholesale CBDC for interbank government-securities settlement, with **nine banks** participating — State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, and HSBC.

**December 1, 2022 — Retail pilot (e₹-R)** <sup>[1][1]</sup>: the retail digital rupee launched in a closed user group of participating customers and merchants in selected cities.

**2023 — UPI QR interoperability** <sup>[2][2], [3][3], [4][4]</sup>: previously e₹-R required a **separate QR code** from UPI, forcing merchants to display two codes. Banks then interlinked the digital-rupee app with the **UPI QR infrastructure**. **HDFC Bank** was an early adopter of a UPI-compatible digital-rupee QR; **State Bank of India enabled UPI interoperability for its e-rupee from 4 September 2023** <sup>[4][4]</sup>. **ICICI Bank** enabled its digital-rupee app users to pay at merchant UPI QR codes around November 2023 <sup>[3][3]</sup>.

**February 2024 — Offline and programmability** <sup>[1][1]</sup>: the RBI announced e₹-R would support **offline transactions** via NFC for low/no-connectivity areas, plus **programmable, purpose-bound** payments for government transfers and corporate expenses.

## Technical specification

The digital rupee uses a **token-based architecture** for retail (e₹-R), functioning like digital cash, distributed under a **two-tier model**: the RBI issues CBDC to retail banks and financial-service providers, which circulate it to the public <sup>[1][1]</sup>. e₹-R is held in a dedicated bank-provided **digital-rupee wallet** (distinct from a normal bank account), in the **same denominations as physical currency** <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

**QR mechanism — UPI interoperability** <sup>[2][2], [3][3], [4][4]</sup>:

- A digital-rupee wallet user can **scan a standard UPI / merchant QR code** and pay using CBDC instead of a bank-account debit <sup>[2][2], [3][3]</sup>.
- This **interlinks the UPI QR infrastructure with CBDC**, so the *same single QR code* at a merchant accepts both UPI and digital-rupee payments — the merchant no longer needs two codes <sup>[2][2]</sup>.
- The merchant-presented UPI QR is the dominant pattern; the consumer selects the e₹ wallet as the payment instrument inside the app.
- Because it reuses UPI's QR, the e₹ inherits UPI/BharatQR's interoperable acceptance footprint rather than building a new CBDC merchant network <sup>[3][3]</sup>.

**Offline / programmability** <sup>[1][1]</sup>: NFC-based offline e₹-R transactions for poor-connectivity areas; programmable purpose-bound spending for targeted disbursements.

**Underlying symbology**: Standard [QR Code](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/qr-code) (ISO/IEC 18004). The acceptance code is the **UPI QR** rather than a bespoke CBDC code; UPI QR/BharatQR derive from [EMVCo MPM](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/emvco-mpm)-aligned national specification [UPI QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/upi-qr).

## Use cases

- **Retail merchant payments** — scan-to-pay against the merchant's existing UPI QR, paying from the e₹ wallet <sup>[2][2], [3][3]</sup>.
- **P2P transfers** — wallet-to-wallet transfers of tokenised rupees <sup>[1][1]</sup>.
- **Offline payments** — NFC offline e₹-R for areas with spotty or no internet <sup>[1][1]</sup>.
- **Programmable government / corporate disbursements** — purpose-bound e₹ for transfers and expense control <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

## Implementations

Digital-rupee wallet apps are provided by **participating banks** <sup>[1][1], [4][4]</sup>:

- **State Bank of India (SBI)** — e-rupee app; **UPI interoperability from 4 September 2023** <sup>[4][4]</sup>.
- **HDFC Bank** — early adopter of a UPI-compatible digital-rupee QR <sup>[4][4]</sup>.
- **ICICI Bank** — digital-rupee app users can pay at merchant UPI QR codes (Nov 2023) <sup>[3][3]</sup>.
- Additional retail-pilot banks expanded the closed user group over time <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

The wholesale e₹-W is used by the nine launch banks for interbank G-sec settlement <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

## Comparison

**vs. [UPI QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/upi-qr) (India's instant-payment rail)** — The central comparison. UPI moves **bank-deposit money** account-to-account; e₹-R moves **central-bank money (tokenised cash)** wallet-to-wallet. By design they **share the same QR code**: from 2023 a merchant's UPI QR accepts both, and the customer chooses the source <sup>[2][2], [3][3]</sup>. This deliberate reuse of UPI's ubiquitous QR is the e₹'s main adoption lever — it avoids the merchant-acceptance cold-start that pure-CBDC schemes face.

**vs. [e-CNY QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/e-cny-qr) (China)** — Both retail CBDCs ride the country's existing QR ecosystem rather than fielding a new code: e₹-R via UPI QR, e-CNY via the Alipay/WeChat aggregate QR. India's path is cleaner because UPI QR is **already a single interoperable national standard**, whereas China must *unify* multiple proprietary codes.

**vs. [eNaira QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/enaira-qr) (Nigeria) / [Digital Ruble QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/digital-ruble-qr) (Russia)** — eNaira reuses Nigeria's EMV/NQR base; the digital ruble will route through Russia's NSPK universal QR. All four CBDCs converge on the same pattern: **reuse the national QR rail rather than mint a CBDC-only one**.

## Fun facts

The digital rupee's whole consumer strategy hinges on a single design decision: **make the CBDC wallet pay against the existing UPI QR code**. Before that, merchants had to display **two QR codes** — one for UPI, one for CBDC — which guaranteed friction; interlinking the two collapsed it to one <sup>[2][2]</sup>.

Because e₹-R is **tokenised in the same denominations as physical cash** (down to paisa), the digital rupee is closer to "digital banknotes" than to an account balance — a deliberate contrast with account-based UPI <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

## Status

**Live pilot, scaling.** Key metrics <sup>[1][1]</sup>:

- **e₹-W launched 1 November 2022**; **e₹-R launched 1 December 2022**.
- **February 2023**: ~50,000 users and ~5,000 merchants in the retail pilot.
- **December 2023**: reached the **1 million daily transactions** target.
- **March 2025**: **over 6 million users**; **₹1,016 crore** of digital rupee in circulation.
- **UPI QR interoperability** rolled out across major banks from 2023 (SBI 4 Sept 2023) <sup>[4][4]</sup>.
- Offline and programmable features announced February 2024 <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

The e₹ remains in **pilot phase** but with a clear scaling trajectory, anchored on **UPI QR interoperability** as its merchant-acceptance strategy <sup>[1][1], [4][4]</sup>.

## Sources

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rupee
[2]: https://www.medianama.com/2023/07/223-cbdc-upi-qr-code-interoperability/
[3]: https://www.businesstoday.in/personal-finance/news/story/icici-bank-users-can-now-pay-merchant-qr-code-using-digital-rupee-app-heres-how-you-can-make-quick-payments-404288-2023-11-02
[4]: https://www.business-standard.com/finance/personal-finance/sbi-s-e-rupee-can-be-accssed-via-upi-now-how-it-works-and-what-this-means-123090400401_1.html
[5]: https://vajiramandravi.com/current-affairs/central-bank-digital-currency/

1. [Digital rupee — Wikipedia][1]
2. [You can soon scan UPI QR codes and pay with CBDC — MediaNama, 2023][2]
3. [ICICI Bank users can now pay merchant QR code using digital rupee app — Business Today, 2023][3]
4. [SBI's e-rupee can be accessed via UPI now — Business Standard, 2023][4]
5. [Central Bank Digital Currency – UPI QR Code — Vajiram & Ravi][5]

## Deployments

_No country reports mention this standard by name._