It’s a moment of rejoicing for the crypto community in India, as after months of speculations and negative predictions, the government has finally confirmed that digital currencies are not prohibited in India. The Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Anurag Singh Thakur replied to all the questions raised in the parliament.
While answering to the questions raised by the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Thakur informed that though there is no separate law for digital assets in India, traditional regulatory bodies like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Enforcement Directorate, and the Income Tax Department will deal with all the matters related to the industry.
In the last few months, there has been a lot of speculation around the fate of cryptocurrencies in the country. A couple of days ago, a report was leaked online claiming that the Indian government will be bringing a bill to ban digital currencies completely and criminalizing crypto trade. However, answers by the minister have cleared the air, giving the much-needed relief to crypto companies in the country.
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To put an end to all the rumors around decentralized currencies, an opposition member in the Upper House, Dharmapuri Srinivas asked the minister whether the government had prohibited crypto in the country, or not. Answering the question, the minister replied, ‘No, sir.’
The opposition further asked whether the government had taken notice of the prevalence of crypto in the country. To this, Thakur said,
“Taking note of the issue, the government has constituted an interministerial committee (IMC) under the chairmanship of Secretary (DA). The IMC has submitted the report to the government.”
The IMC mentioned by the minister is headed by Secretary of Economic Affairs and Finance Secretary of India, Subhash Chandra Garg. Apart from him, representatives from the RBI, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) form the committee.
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Lastly, the minister was asked about the actions taken against people involved in crypto market operations in the country. He replied,
“Presently, there is no separate law for dealing with issues relating to cryptocurrencies. Hence, all concerned departments and law enforcement agencies, such as RBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax authorities, etc. take action as per the relevant existing laws.”
