Regulating Crypto Assets Is High on the Agenda for India: IMF
Official
A director at
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that crypto regulation is
"certainly high on the agenda" for India. "We are trying to come
up with global standards for crypto asset regulations. I think that’s important
for India to also adopt, "said the IMF official.
Tobias Adrian, Financial Counselor and Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department, discussed India’s crypto regulation. He explained in an interview with PTI, at the annual spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank. Adrian said that for India, regulating crypto assets is certainly high on the agenda.
"That is
something that is done globally," he stressed. Within the Financial
Stability Board, we are trying to come up with global standards for crypto
asset regulations. I think that’s important for India to also adopt.
Officials
from 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.
The IMF
director then commented on the taxation of crypto transactions in India.
"Of course, I know that India has changed the taxation of crypto assets
and that’s a welcome move."
The Indian
government started taxing cryptocurrency income at 30% without allowing loss
offsets or deductions on April 1. Crypto trading volumes subsequently plunged
across exchanges in the country. A further 1% tax deduction at source (TDS)
will soon go into effect.
Overall, the
IMF is looking at India in "a very positive fashion." He was quoted
as saying, "I think there are many opportunities and growth (in India) is
coming back." There’s a recovery. There’s a lot of excitement around new
growth opportunities, new developments,... We always value that growth is
inclusive and touches all of the people. But our general outlook in India is a
fairly positive one. "
The IMF
official also discussed the central bank's digital currency (CBDC). In India, the central bank, the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is actively working on a digital rupee. The
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said, that it will be introduced in the
current financial year.
Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi previously explained: "The
digital rupee will be the digital form of our physical rupee and will be
regulated by the RBI." "The digital rupee will revolutionise the
fintech sector," Modi noted.
Earlier this
month, RBI Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar said the central bank would go about
launching a digital currency "in a much calibrated, graduated manner,
assessing impact all along the line."
Commenting on
India's exploration of a central bank digital currency, the IMF director
stated:
"That could be quite important for financial inclusion and financial development, and we are watching very closely what India is doing." We welcome those policy developments as well.
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