India's Cryptocurrency Regulation: A Unique Approach - Jayant Sinha

NEW DELHI: In an event organised on September 7 by the Blockchain and Crypto assets Council (BACC) of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Jayant Sinha, the chairman of India’ s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, said that India's cryptocurrency bill will have a distinct and unique approach for crypto regulation.
He confirmed that India’s crypto policies will not be along the lines of nations like the U.S, Japan or El Salvador as there is no full capital account convertibility in our country. Full account convertibility allows the exchange of a nation’s currency with foreign currency without any restrictions on the amount.
Sinha explained that considering India’s different set of challenges and circumstances, the crypto policy will work in the given direction:
* The crypto policy of India will be dominated by concerns of national security. The minister emphasised on the need for strong vigilance against the misuse of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets for terror financing and domestic security threats.
* Indian crypto policy will strive to balance stability and growth in relation to the larger picture.
In the same event, former Reserve Bank of India Governor, Rama Subramaniam Gandhi said that once cryptocurrencies gain acceptance, the same rules that govern commodity exchanges could apply to them.
Gandhi said that cryptos must be regulated as an asset or commodity in India and governed by existing laws. He added that regulators should be in the know of an individual’s crypto investments from a tax perspective and that this information should be shared with exchanges.
The government is on the verge of finalising regulations for cryptocurrencies in India and had earlier stated that the primary goal of the cryptocurrency bill would be to define cryptocurrency based on use cases.
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