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Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed that both the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry are on board with the new crypto rules, a move that was hailed as a positive development for the country’s digital assets industry. However, it now appears that not everyone is exactly on board with the proposal as an RBI official has expressed his preference for a crypto ban.
“The RBI and the government [are] on board,” Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a press briefing on Monday after addressing the RBI’s central board, Coindesk reported. “Discussions are ongoing. Even before the budget discussions [they] were ongoing and they will continue. Any discussion the government takes or the Reserve Bank takes, it happens only after discussions with each other.”
The Finance Minister added that discussions are still ongoing and that nothing has been finalized yet. “We were all discussing prior to the budget,” she said. “And we shall continue to have the discussions. And all decisions ... are being taken on it, obviously, because it [is] very serious, it is a digital currency from the central bank of some sort, of some shape, some color, some description. So obviously it will be with both of us having had enough consultations.”
Under the proposed crypto rules, the government will levy a 30 percent tax on any income from the transfer of virtual digital assets. Many view the development as a step towards the legalization of digital currencies in the country.
“You can't tax something which is illegal,” Sidharth Sogani, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency research organization Crebaco, said. “Hence, this is a very positive move by the government and is very good for the industry. If there are tax clarities in this space, more money is likely to come in.”
However, RBI's deputy governor T Rabi Sankar expressed his preference for imposing a ban on cryptocurrencies. “We have also seen that cryptocurrencies are not amenable to definition as a currency, asset or commodity; they have no underlying cash flows, they have no intrinsic value; that they are akin to Ponzi schemes, and may even be worse,” he said in a speech, according to NDTV.com. “All these factors lead to the conclusion that banning cryptocurrency is perhaps the most advisable choice open to India.”
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