Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged all Group of 20 (G20) nations, as well as international bodies like the International Monetary Fund and Financial Stability Board, to come together to help regulate crypto assets.
See related article: India’s finance minister sees 46% growth in blockchain technology use in next few years
Fast facts
- Sitharaman was speaking at the 14th Annual International G20 Conference organized by think-tank the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. India is set to assume the presidency of the G20 from Dec. 1, 2022 to Nov. 30, 2023.
- Regulating crypto assets is in national interest, she said, “because you don’t know what the trail leads you to. Is it drug funding, is it terror funding or is it just gaming the system and so on?”
- “No one single country can succeed in individually, being in a silo, trying to regulate the crypto assets,” she said at the event on Tuesday.
- India has had a hostile attitude towards cryptocurrency trading, and imposed a 30% flat tax on all crypto income as well as a 1% tax deducted at source on all transactions above 10,000 Indian rupees (US$120) with no provision to offset losses with gains made elsewhere.
- The Reserve Bank of India, tasked with introducing India’s first central bank digital currency, has started a pilot of the digital rupee in the wholesale segment (e₹-W) from Nov. 1.
See related article: Indian finance minister urges IMF to lead crypto regulation
