Indian Minister Believes Crypto Transactions are Fine if Regulated
- Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Information Technology and Electronics of India stated that crypto transactions are fine if regulated.
- The Indian government will soon present the annual budget in the month of February which might include laws related to crypto trading.
- Close to $8.35 billion were moved to foreign exchanges from Indian exchanges between February and October last year.
While crypto adoption has been rising gradually despite the bearish cycle witnessed in 2022, one of the countries that came to the forefront of this wave of adoption was India, the second-most populous country in the world and one of the largest economies globally. Interestingly, the central bank of the country is not in favor of cryptocurrencies, but an Indian minister has come forward to show support for digital assets.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Information Technology and Electronics, stated that “there is nothing today that outlaws crypto as long as you follow the legal process.” The junior minister basically implied that transactions made using digital assets are fine as long as they are not violating laws. However, this is in very sharp contrast with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has called for a complete ban on these blockchain-based assets multiple times in the past.
It is crucial to note that these remarks are of great significance as the Indian government will soon present the annual budget in the month of February, where certain laws regarding cryptocurrencies might be present. Another important fact to note here is that Indian crypto exchanges have been facing a lot of heat from regulators following the 2021 bull run in the market.
According to an earlier report, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India has been investigating more than ten crypto exchanges over their roles in helping criminal firms launder over INR 1,000 crore ($122 million). The relationship between Binance and WazirX is also being investigated by the ED.
Moreover, Indian exchanges have also witnessed a huge drop in trading volumes following the imposition of a 30% tax on capital gains made using crypto coins with no option to offset the losses. Moreover, a TDS of 1% was also imposed on every exchange, which was opposed by the crypto community in the country.
“Notably, through our representation for the upcoming Union Budget 2023 – 2024, we have suggested that the rate of TDS be brought down to 0.01%. This lower rate will help Indian VDA businesses offer competitive prices to Indian VDA users and protect them from exposure to unregulated foreign exchanges,” Sumit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX, said.
As reported earlier by BitcoinWisdom, over $8.35 billion were moved to foreign exchanges following the implementation of huge taxes between February and October last year. On the other hand, taking into account P2P trades, the total shift of trade volume from local to foreign exchange platforms is around $9.67 billion.
Additionally, the Governor of the RBI, Shaktikanta Das, slammed cryptocurrencies in February, stating that they had no underlying value.
“Private cryptocurrency is a huge threat to macro-economic stability and financial stability…investors should keep this in mind that they are investing at their own risk,” Das said.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
