India will discuss crypto regulations with its G20 member nations during the presidency. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has revealed that the Indian government hopes to arrive at a framework or standard operating procedure (SOP) so that countries globally “can have a technology-driven regulatory framework” for crypto.
India will discuss Crypto Regulatory Framework with G20 Members Countries
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared the government’s plan regarding crypto regulation Saturday before concluding her trip to Washington, D.C., to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, PTI reported.
The finance minister told a group of Indian reporters that crypto will be part of India’s agenda during its G20 presidency. Noting the fact that many organizations were conducting research into cryptocurrency, she stated:
This would certainly be something we want. We’d like to collect all the information, do some study, and bring it back to the G20 to allow members to debate it.
“But implicit in this is that we don’t want the technology to be disturbed,” Sitharaman stressed. “We want the technology to survive and also be in a position for the fintech and other sectors to benefit from it.”
The finance minister then referred back to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is responsible for detecting money laundering involving Indian crypto assets and cryptocurrency trading platforms.
“This concern has been actually acknowledged by several members of the G20 saying yes money trail, yes money laundering, yes drug misuse, and so on,” Sitharaman continued, concluding:
It is a common understanding that there must be some form of regulation. This will require that the whole world agrees on this. This will not be possible to do by one nation. We will have some ideas.
The G20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies. The G20 members are Argentina, Brazil, China, France and Germany. India will take over the G20 presidency for one-year, starting Dec. 1, 2023 and ending Nov. 30, 2023.
Indian officials are reportedly working hard to settle their position regarding cryptocurrency legality by next quarter. This will allow them to become Financial Action Task Force compliant. The finance minister called on the IMF last month to play a leadership role in cryptocurrency regulation. According to the IMF, it was ready and available for India’s assistance in crypto regulation.
India is yet to create a regulation framework for crypto, but it already taxes crypto income at 30 percent and imposes a TDS of 1% on all crypto transactions. The Ministry of Finance, meanwhile, is working to determine how goods and services taxes (GST) can be applied crypto.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continues to have “serious concerns” about cryptocurrency. The central bank has repeatedly recommended a complete ban on all non-government-issued cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether. However, the finance minister said in July: “Any legislation for regulation or for banning can be effective only after significant international collaboration on evaluation of the risks and benefits and evolution of common taxonomy and standards.”
What do you think about the comments by India’s finance minister? Are you positive that India will have an official regulatory structure for crypto? Please comment below.
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