International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva says India is “a country that is on the frontline of digital currencies,” especially “how it handles a reduction of risk from crypto assets for the Indian people and businesses.” She met with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss crypto regulation.
IMF’s Chief Comments on Indian Crypto Policy
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva commended the Indian government’s approach to cryptocurrency at an IMF press conference Wednesday.
Responding to a question about “what role India can play in improving the global economic situation so as to safeguard the interests of the most vulnerable,” the IMF chief said, “India already plays a very important international role.” She elaborated:
It’s a country on the cutting edge of digital currencies. Particularly, central bank digital currency. How it manages a decrease in risk from crypto assets to the Indian people.
Monday was the IMF’s boss meeting with Nirmala Sitharaman (Indian Finance Minister). Cryptoregulation was also on their agenda.
Officials of India’s Ministry of Finance have reportedly been consulting with the IMF and the World Bank on crypto policies as the government works on how to treat crypto assets.
Indian authorities began taxing crypto income at 30%, without loss offsets and deductions, on April 1. It was then that crypto trading volume plunged on all Indian exchanges. Soon, a further 1% tax will be deducted at source (TDS).
Indian Finance Minister discusses Crypto at the IMF Meeting
Last week, India’s finance minister voiced concern over the potential dangers of cryptocurrency at the IMF. “I think the biggest risk for all countries across the board will be the money laundering aspect and the aspect of currency being used for financing terror,” she described.
Sitharaman stressed that regulation was key.
Regulating technology must not be behind the curve but on top.
Indian Finance Minister added that one country cannot do this alone. “That’s not possible. Any country that thinks it can manage it will be the one to blame. It has to be across the board,” she stressed.
Tobias Adrian, Financial Counselor and Director of the IMF Monetary and Capital Markets Department, said last week that “Regulating crypto assets is certainly high on the agenda” for India.
Meanwhile, India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is working on a digital rupee which the finance minister said will be introduced this financial year. Earlier this month, RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar said the central bank would go about launching a digital currency “in a very calibrated, graduated manner, assessing impact all along the line.”
“The digital rupee will be the digital form of our physical rupee and will be regulated by the RBI,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously explained. “The digital rupee will revolutionize the fintech sector,” Modi noted.
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