Mumbai, the financial capital of India, debuted a metaverse initiative to exhibit newly launched and upcoming city-wide infrastructure megaprojects.

The Mumbai Metropolis Metaverse was launched as a free-for-all platform, allowing users to explore various development initiatives in Mumbai and its adjacent cities via 3D and virtual reality (VR).

Mumbai Metropolis Metaverse showing megaprojects across the city of Mumbai. Source: mumbaimetaverse.com

Mumbai recently inaugurated roads built over the Arabian Sea to reduce traffic, improve connectivity and promoting cleaner air. The city also commissioned several other infrastructure projects, including underground and undersea tunnels for intracity travel. Mumbai’s metaverse app aims to share this vision with its users through an interactive user interface.

The initiative was announced on Feb. 19 by Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, on X, where he invited users worldwide to witness the “transformation.”

Dear Mumbaikars and Lovers of Mumbai,
Just click on these links to see how Mumbai is all set to transform within next few years, rather within few months!
Come, join this once in a lifetime journey called ‘Transformation’!
Mumbai Metropolis Metaverse! https://t.co/HulmPEhZNR …

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) February 19, 2024

The Mumbai Metropolis Metaverse will help citizens virtually monitor the progress of the megaprojects that impact their day-to-day lives. The metaverse can be accessed via the website or apps available on the Google and Apple app stores.

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Parallel to the state government’s metaverse initiative to showcase urban planning and development, the Indian central bank recently announced plans to explore offline solutions to boost the adoption of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital rupee, in remote areas of the country with limited internet access.

During a Monetary Policy Committee review meeting on Feb. 8, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said:

“It is proposed to introduce offline functionality in CBDC-R to enable transactions in areas with poor or limited internet connectivity. These functionalities will be slowly introduced through the pilots.”

The plans for an offline CBDC were first proposed in March 2023 when Ajay Kumar Choudhary, the RBI’s executive director, said the central bank is looking to test CBDC’s potential for cross-border transactions and linkage with legacy systems.

The National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI) — an initiative led by the RBI and 247 Indian banking companies — began blockchain recruitment in the fourth quarter of 2023. The candidates at the time were primarily tasked with identifying “avenues wherever blockchain-driven solutions can be used.”

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