Last Updated on 29/11/2021 by Sanskriti
Indian Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha on the opening day of the winter session of the parliament that the national government has no intentions to recognize bitcoin as a currency. India’s Cryptocurrency Bill 2021 is expected to be tabled soon.
In response to the question asked by Karnataka Lok Sabha members Sumalatha Ambareesh (Independent) and DK Suresh (Congress, the Minister said. In answer to a query on whether the Centre was aware of the rise in crypto trading in the country, she stated that the government does not gather statistics on bitcoin transactions.
“Seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India” but allows for “certain exceptions to promote underlying technology and its uses”, stated in The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021.
In response to a query from Thirumavalavan (VCK) of Tamil Nadu, MoS (Finance) Pankaj Chaudhary stated that cryptocurrencies in India are uncontrolled.
“RBI has vided its circular dated May 31st, 2021, advised its regulated entities to continue to carry out customer due diligence processes in line with regulations governing standards for Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering, Combating of Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and obligations of regulated entities under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, in addition to ensuring compliance with relevant provisions under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) for overseas remittances.”
The Bengaluru zonal unit of the Enforcement Directorate has also registered a case relating to bitcoin, according to Chaudhary. In a written response, he told Janata Dal (Secular) member Prajwal Revanna that the administration would not release much information since it was not in the public interest.
