Globally, virtual currencies are back in the limelight. In India, UPI transactions hit record highs almost every month. Yet, the value of cash in circulation has gone up by Rs 2 lakh crore.

Sure, the transaction value of the e-rupee, or the digital form of the fiat currency, has increased, but it’s driven more by banks doling out allowances to employees than any real market demand.

But the reality is that the landscape of money’s partial substitutes in India, a digital-payments pioneer, shows little change to the status quo.

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