Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the integration of Odisha’s flagship Subhadra Yojana with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) digital currency pilot project during a launch event in Bhubaneswar. This initiative is designed to empower women beneficiaries by enabling them to conduct transactions using digital currency.
Modi expressed gratitude to the women of Odisha for their participation, revealing that the Subhadra Yojana will provide financial assistance of ₹50,000 to over 1 crore women, with funds transferred directly into their bank accounts for timely access.
The integration with the RBI’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot, launched in 2022, represents a significant advancement in modernizing financial transactions. The RBI has introduced two segments: CBDC-R (retail) for individual consumers and CBDC-W (wholesale) for institutional participants. The retail segment focuses on Person-to-Person (P2P) and Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions, enhancing convenience and security in daily financial interactions.
Additionally, the central government has achieved notable success in direct benefit transfers (DBT), completing over 10 billion transactions valued at approximately ₹6.9 trillion in the 2023-24 fiscal year. This reflects the government’s commitment to providing efficient and transparent financial assistance.
The combination of the Subhadra Yojana and the digital currency initiative aims to bolster economic empowerment for women in Odisha, fostering a more inclusive financial landscape and supporting the state’s development goals.
