The future of money — what new forms it can take — has always been a complicated discussion in India and even globally. Look at crypto that has regulators almost everywhere split over its legal status and uses.

That said, governments and central banks realise if they don’t embrace the coming tide of tech-led disruptions in the financial world, they may be left behind. So, they have floated the idea of a state-backed virtual version of their fiat currency.

This includes the ever-guarded RBI, which has finally taken a leap of faith after weighing the option for more than a year. The first round of trials of the digital rupee, or the Central Bank Digital Currency, has begun in a select category of technical transactions this week.