Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that it was a “sovereign right” of the central government to impose taxes on cryptocurrency transactions. She replied to the Rajya Sabha on the general discussion on the Union Budget that was presented earlier this month. The Indian finance ministry announced a 30% tax on cryptocurrency transactions which received pushback from the Indian crypto community.
The decision to ban cryptocurrencies will be taken after consultations with stakeholders.
Sitharaman also told the upper house that a decision on whether to ban private cryptocurrencies would be taken based on consultations with stakeholders. As reported earlier, on November 23, an official document on the Winter Session of Parliament showed the Union government would introduce a Bill to ban all private cryptocurrencies in India. However, the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill has not been placed in the house yet. The finance minister also announced that the Reserve Bank of India would issue a central bank-backed digital currency using blockchain and other technologies during 2022-’23.
RBI governor says cryptocurrencies are a threat to financial stability.
As reported yesterday, the Reserve Bank of India’s governor Shaktikanta Das made it clear that private cryptocurrencies are a threat to macroeconomic and financial stability and undermine its ability to deal with challenges on the two fronts. Cautioning investors, Das said such assets have no underlying whatsoever, not even a tulip. “Private cryptocurrencies, or whatever name you call them, are a threat to our macroeconomic stability and financial stability. They will undermine the RBI’s ability to deal with issues of financial stability and macroeconomic stability,” the RBI governor noted.
