While speaking to reporters on the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal said the Central Government will take a balanced view on the issue of regulation of cryptocurrencies as they have implications on India's financial stability, adding that the issue of cryptocurrency has not been covered in the Economic Survey 2021-22.
He said, “As you know, this is a matter of some debate, both inside the government, in the Ministry of Finance, and even in Parliament. So, this is something that is currently in discussion. There are some financial stability issues. But there are also other arguments that are made in terms of innovation and so on, obviously a balanced view on this will be taken.”
The government had expressed its intention to bring a bill on cryptocurrency seeking to "create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India" in the last session of Parliament.
However, it could not be introduced as the Cabinet had not cleared the draft bill. Currently, there are no particular regulations or any ban on use of cryptocurrency in the country. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also highlighted various issues, including the financial stability impact of such virtual currencies.
