India's currency transformed from multiple regional currencies to a unified rupee, managed by the Reserve Bank of India since 1935. Decimalisation in 1957, digital payments, and now polymer banknote trials mark its evolution.
The European Central Bank (ECB) warns that stablecoins threaten European bank deposits by operating outside the traditional banking system, potentially reducing lending capacity. Executive board member Piero Cipollone presented the digital euro as a structural solution to safeguard deposits and transaction data for commercial banks.
Blockchain technology, initially proposed by Haber and Stornetta and popularized by Nakamoto, is a distributed digital ledger that stores data in immutable, timestamped blocks. It enables secure, decentralized transactions without third parties, used in cryptocurrencies and adopted by companies like Walmart and IBM for supply chain tracking, offering benefits like increased accuracy and security despite data storage limits and regulatory changes.
Indonesia is reportedly interested in India's digital public infrastructure, including the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), as a potential blueprint for its own sovereign system. This follows recent visits by Indonesian delegations to India to study public policy initiatives.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a six-day visit to Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand to bolster India's Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific vision. Key agendas include defense capacity-building, critical mineral cooperation, digital payment integration with Indonesia, and strengthening strategic partnerships with Australia and New Zealand.
Uzbekistan is experiencing a rapid increase in digital payments, with 71.17% of consumers expected to use them by 2025, up from 39% in 2021. This growth, driven by policy and technology, is transforming the financial sector, expanding access to banking services, and influencing areas like lending and investment, despite ongoing challenges in infrastructure and regulation.
Italian digital payments grew 13.5% in 2025, reaching 12.3 billion operations. Debit cards lead, accounting for 60.4% of card payment value. Contactless and instant transfers also saw significant increases.
China has enabled cross-border QR code payments with Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, allowing users to pay in their home currencies. Alipay and QRIS now work across borders, with Chinese visitors able to use digital wallets in Thailand since late October and UnionPay/Alipay in Vietnam since December. Natixis analysts say the move advances dedollarisation, promotes yuan internationalisation and strengthens ASEAN economic ties.
BRICS foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in New Delhi from May 14-15 ahead of the bloc's summit on September 10-11. Payment connectivity and trade settlements are expected to be among the issues on the agenda. An expert said a decentralized financial payments system within BRICS could provide immunity against Western economic leverage and dollar volatility.
The Reserve Bank of India has extended its E-mandate rules to cover cross-border recurring electronic payments via cards, prepaid instruments, and UPI. The new regulations set a Rs 15,000 per-transaction limit and Rs 1 lakh cap for credit card, insurance, and mutual fund payments without additional authentication. Financial institutions must provide 24-hour pre-transaction notifications and customer opt-out facilities validated through additional factor authentication.
