India is gearing up to take up the presidency of the G20 and Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister, said that she would love to highlight that the country is moving forward quickly where digital financial technology is concerned.
Digital technology
The Indian finance minister spoke on November 1st at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.
She said that digital technology had been adopted by the people in India, much like the relationship between fish and water.
Sitharaman emphasized that it was highly likely that crypto regulation would be one of the major priorities of the country in its G20 leadership.
However, she was also quick to add that India would require the support of other countries on the matter as well.
The finance minister said that the country needs to work with organizations like the FSB (Financial Stability Board), the IMF (International Monetary Fund), and the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development).
She said that this would help ensure that they can regulate cryptocurrencies with all the countries on the same page.
India is expected to take the presidency of G20 in December after Indonesia will hand it over.
Crypto regulation
Sitharaman asserted that a single country could not hope to succeed individually in its attempt to regulate crypto assets and it was best to work together.
According to the finance minister, it is in the national interests of the country to regulate the crypto space because of the possibility that the transactions could be used for terror funding, drug funding, or just for tricking the system.
She also urged other members of the G20 to coordinate on policies in order to determine how crypto handles can be handled in the best way.
This is not the first time that Sitharaman has spoken of collaboration when it comes to regulating cryptocurrencies.
Back in July, the Indian finance minister had said that global collaboration was needed to address the potential risk of crypto assets to financial stability.
RBI
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has had an unfavorable stance toward cryptocurrencies since the beginning.
In 2018, the Indian central bank imposed a ban on banks from offering their services to crypto companies, but this had been overruled in 2020 by the supreme court in India.
Nonetheless, the central bank has continued to issue warnings on cryptocurrencies and digital assets since then, citing threats to the country’s economy.
But, on October 31st, the RBI announced that it was moving forward with a pilot program of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) that it has been working on since February.
On November 1st, the Indian central bank launched the pilot program of the digital rupee for the wholesale space.
They are going to roll out the digital rupee in three steps to ensure that the traditional financial system continues to function smoothly and does not suffer from any disruptions.
The tax authorities in India have also begun imposing taxes on crypto, despite the lack of regulation in the country.
James Thompson