Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Although Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has seen phenomenal success in India, and even adopted by multiple countries, cash continues to dominate monetary transactions, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas.
Despite the rapid growth of digital payments, cash continues to play a critical role in India’s economy, especially in rural and semi-urban regions, among low-income households, senior citizens and small businesses, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Shirish Chandra Murmu said at the Global Cash Management 2026 Conference organised by Bank Indonesia in Jakarta, the media reported on Tuesday.
Addressing central bankers from across the world, he highlighted India’s unique “cash paradox,” noting that currency in circulation continues to grow at double-digit rates despite a decline in cash’s share of individual transactions due to increasing digital payment adoption.
Murmu underscored the massive scale of India’s currency management operations, revealing that the country currently has around 176 billion banknotes in circulation. The central bank produces 28-30 billion banknotes annually and withdraws about 21 billion soiled notes every year.
He stressed that maintaining public confidence in cash remains a core responsibility of the central bank. He pointed to the RBI’s Clean Note Policy, under which old and unfit currency notes are regularly removed and replaced with good-quality banknotes.
Murmu also highlighted India’s self-reliance in currency production, with banknote paper mills, printing presses and ink production units largely controlled by the RBI and the Government of India.
Among the challenges ahead, he identified the difficulty of forecasting currency demand in an increasingly digital economy, improving note durability through technologies such as polymer notes, and reducing the environmental footprint of the cash management cycle.
Murmu said that while digital payments are expanding, cash continues to be a significant payment instrument, and ensuring its integrity through secure logistics and efficient distribution remains a key responsibility of the central bank.