India to release cryptocurrency or the digital equivalent of the Indian Rupee according to discussions on the RBI conference held recently.
The governor of RBI Shaktikanta Das said that the cryptocurrency issuance is a sovereign mandate and will not be handed over to a private company, as there is a huge challenge around money laundering.
Furthermore, he said that RBI is against any private digital currency in the country. However, the RBI has held internal meetings and discussions with central banks to potentially launch India’s own digital currency.
Das said that the technology is still in the nascent stage at the moment, and it will take time to launch the cryptocurrency into the Indian market. “It’s too early,” he added.
In July 2019, the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) led by Subhash Chandra Garg, the secretary of Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) had submitted its report on a ban on cryptocurrency in India to the finance ministry. The committee recommended that all private cryptocurrencies be banned in India, except the cryptocurrency issued by the government.
The Reserve Bank of India, its central banking authority, released a circular in the latter part of 2018 that banned any banking institution from dealing in any crypto currency whatsoever. The fallout of that circular led to many investors backing out of the crypto market. The issue was made worse when a leaked policy draft by a government committee recommended a 10 year jail sentence for crypto currency users.
More indian companies may close down before the issue is resolved. At the moment, the matter has been brought to the apex court, The Supreme Court of India. The next trial date is on the 23th of July 2019. While some are hopeful that the government may take a different decision that the committee recommendations, the outlook is not looking good. A proposed KYC for crypto currency users has led to speculation that India may be inching closer to a crypto friendly approach.
Although, the policy statement has effectively put a ban on making new investments in cryptocurrencies with immediate effect, existing investors have been given a window: “We have decided to ring-fence the RBI regulated entities from the risk of dealing with entities associated with virtual currencies. They are required to stop having a business relationship with the entities dealing with virtual currencies forthwith and unwind the existing relationship within a period of three months,” BP Kanungo, Deputy Governor, RBI said.
According to Bitcoin.com –
India’s cryptocurrency regulation is being drafted by an interministerial committee headed by Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. During the last hearing, the government told the court that this committee was in its final stages of deliberations. The exact date of the next hearing will be in the court order which has yet to be released.
The “Ex-founder” Poddar made a request for another notification of any position as a product manager. He also asked if anyone else was interested in setting up their own cryptocurrency exchange.
