Archive · 14 Aug 2026
Centre launches e-rupee-based subsidy transfer in two Union Territories
The government in India helps poor families buy food by giving them money for groceries.
This help is called a food subsidy.
Recently, the government started giving this money in a new digital form called the e-rupee.
The e-rupee is like digital money that lives safely on a phone.
It is made by the Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank.
Two special areas, Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, are the first places to try this.
Families can spend the e-rupee only on food like wheat, rice, and pulses, so the money cannot be misused.
The government hopes this will make giving help faster and safer.
If it works well, other parts of the country may use it too.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched e-rupee-based direct benefit transfer (DBT) of food subsidy under PMGKAY in Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
The two Union Territories are the first in the country to operationalise food subsidy transfer as e-rupee tokens into beneficiaries' Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)-based wallets.
Beneficiaries can use the e-rupee only to purchase foodgrains and other essential food items from empanelled merchants, preventing funds from being diverted.
The pilot is intended to serve as a model for adoption across the country and builds on Chandigarh's DBT framework for food subsidy, implemented in September 2015.
The digital rupee is a tokenised digital version of the Indian rupee issued by the Reserve Bank of India as a Central Bank Digital Currency.
- Who
- Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched the initiative, alongside Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi and Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya, for PMGKAY beneficiaries.
- What
- Launch of digital rupee (CBDC)-based direct benefit transfer of food subsidy into beneficiaries' wallets under PMGKAY.
- When
- On Friday; the article does not specify the exact date.
- Where
- Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Union Territories of India.
- Why
- To make food subsidy delivery more transparent, secure, timely and traceable under the Public Distribution System.
- Launch event
- Chaired by Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria
- Scheme
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)
- Beneficiaries covered under PMGKAY
- More than 800 million people
- Payment mechanism
- e-rupee (Digital Rupee) CBDC tokens into beneficiaries' wallets
- Digital rupee issuer
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
- Usage restriction
- Purchasing foodgrains and other essential food items only
- Additional beneficiary choice
- Pulses and other essential food commodities beyond wheat and rice
- Chandigarh's earlier DBT
- Implemented in September 2015 via Aadhaar-linked bank accounts