Since it took over the G-20 presidency, India had been mum about the effort in terms of crypto regulation, but it has finally opened up about the ongoing work they have been doing in this regard.
India is working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a consultation paper that would focus on the policy applicable to crypto assets and the monetary policy aspects that would apply.
The paper
The Department of Economic Affairs secretary, Ajay Seth revealed that a meeting had been conducted by the IMF back in January about the paper with the representatives of developing economies.
He also said that later this month, there would be a G-20 meeting and it will include a 135-minute seminar that would be focused on the policy response to crypto assets.
He said that a paper was being finalized by the IMF that would function as the base. On December 1st, the presidency of the Group of 20 had been handed over to India.
This is the intergovernmental forum of the 20 largest economies of the world, including the European Union.
Therefore, India is now responsible for shaping the agenda of the group.
Crypto regulation
When India had taken over the G-20 presidency, Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of the country, had said that their priority would be the regulation of crypto assets.
On Friday, Sitharaman reiterated the same and said that they were working on a global Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that could be used for the regulation of crypto assets.
She said that this would be discussed at the G-20 meeting later in the month which will see Central Bank Governors and Finance Ministers of G-20 economies come together.
Sitharaman stated that they were aware that it was central banks that would have the authority of issuing cryptocurrencies.
However, she added that there are other assets that are also being created and have useful technologies that will have to be discussed because one country singularly cannot develop regulations.
The Indian finance minister said that crypto regulation has to be a global effort because technology does not have any borders.
Indian stance
The stance of India regarding the legality of crypto has not been clarified. Last year, the country imposed stiff taxes on crypto but did not declare them legal in the country.
The Finance Minister said that she did not want to wait for regulation to be developed because there were already people who were earning profits from crypto and they needed to be taxed.
She had responded so when questioned about taxing crypto profits even though the assets have not been declared legal as yet.
She said that legality would only come into question if they declare something illegal and they had not yet declared crypto as illegal in India.
The draft bill that India developed for crypto regulation has been in cold storage because the government is seeking global consensus on the matter.
Seth disclosed that they had internal discussions on the crypto bill, but they want to focus on it on a global level.
