Bitcoin
News: New Delhi: Monday, June 03, 2019.
Ahead
of the G20 summit, India’s new finance secretary has confirmed that the report
detailing the country’s crypto regulation is now ready. It will soon be
submitted to the finance minister for approval. Since Arun Jaitley opted out of
cabinet responsibilities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed a new
finance minister.
India’s
Crypto Regulation Is ‘Ready’
After
more than one year of analysis and deliberation, the report containing the
recommended regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in India is now ready to be
submitted to the finance minister, according to local media. The new finance
secretary, former Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Subhash
Chandra Garg, reportedly confirmed its readiness at an event hosted by the
Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India on Thursday.
“On
the cryptocurrency regulation, Garg said the report is ready,” PTI reported,
further quoting the finance secretary as saying:
We
will submit it to the finance minister (soon). Of course, once the approval is
done, it will be made public.
Garg
heads an interministerial committee instituted to study all aspects of
cryptocurrency and draft the country’s crypto regulation. Included on the
committee are representatives from the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board
of India, and the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
This
draft regulation was supposed to be ready in July last year. “We are fairly
close to developing a kind of template which we think might be in the best
interest of our country. We have prepared a draft which we intend to discuss
with the committee members in the first week of July [2018],” Garg explained in
an interview at the time. However, no crypto regulation has been announced and
the Ministry of Finance told Lok Sabha in December last year that “the department
is pursuing the matter with due caution,” noting that “It is difficult to state
a specific timeline to come up with clear recommendations.” The government
subsequently shared with the supreme court in February that the report
containing the recommendations for India’s crypto regulation is in the final
stages of deliberation.
RTI
Request Rejected
Another
indication that the committee’s crypto report has either been finalized or is
being finalized is the government’s reply to a Right to Information (RTI) request
filed by the founder of local news outlet Coin Crunch India. Naimish Sanghvi
asked the DEA about the reported “Banning of Cryptocurrencies and Regulation of
Official Digital Currencies Bill 2019.”
Last
month, the Economic Times wrote that this bill had been circulated to relevant
government departments for discussion, citing an unnamed government official
claiming to know the details of the bill. The news outlet noted at the time
that, based on the feedback, “A final law will be proposed to the next
government that takes charge after elections at the end of May.”
Indian
Cryptocurrency Regulation Is Ready, Official Confirms
“The
RTI was filed on April 26, one day after the reports surfaced. On May 20, 2019
DEA rejected the RTI application citing ‘Section 8(1)(i)’ as the reason for
rejection,” Coin Crunch India shared. “This could mean that DEA simply rejected
it because eventually the information has to be made public.”
Section
8(1)(i) of The Right to Information Act 2005 states that “the decisions of
Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of
which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been
taken, and the matter is complete, or over … those matters which come under the
exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed.”
Jaitley
Out, Modi Appoints New Finance Minister
Garg
said that his committee’s report will soon be submitted to the finance
minister, the position held by Arun Jaitley since 2014. However, Jaitley is
suffering from poor health and has opted out of cabinet responsibilities. On
May 29, he posted on Twitter a letter addressed to Modi which reads:
I
am writing to you to formally request you that I should be allowed a reasonable
time for myself, my treatment and my health and, therefore, not be a part of
any responsibility, for the present, in the new government.
The
letter continues, “I would obviously have a lot of time at my disposal to undertake
any work informally to support the government or the party.”
Jaitley’s
famous budget speech on cryptocurrency in February last year has been cited far
and wide when he said that “The government does not recognise cryptocurrency as
legal tender or coin,” Quartz India quoted him as saying. However, some people
mistook his speech as meaning that cryptocurrency was illegal. The CEO of local
crypto exchange Unocoin, Sathvik Vishwanath, clarified to news.Bitcoin.com:
“The finance minister was clear: cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in
India. He did not say that they are not legal in India. There’s a huge
difference.”
On
Friday, Modi appointed Nirmala Sitharaman, who served as the country’s Minister
of Defence until May 30, as the new finance and corporate affairs minister. She
is India’s first full-time female finance minister.
Crypto
Community’s Campaign
The
Indian crypto community had been campaigning to Jaitley and other lawmakers for
positive regulation and the end to the banking restriction. The RBI issued a
circular in April last year, prohibiting regulated financial institutions from
providing services to crypto businesses. Banks subsequently closed accounts of
crypto exchanges.
Indian
Cryptocurrency Regulation Is Ready, Official Confirms
Nischal
Shetty, CEO of local crypto exchange Wazirx, started a social media campaign
for positive crypto regulation 213 days ago. While wishing Jaitley a speedy
recovery, he emphasized that his “India Wants Crypto” campaign “will continue
and we’ll ensure that India is at the forefront of the crypto revolution.”
Noting that “Positive crypto regulations in India will help create wealth and
jobs for millions of Indians” and “Millions of youth in India want to see
positive crypto moves by the government,” he urged the new finance minister to
introduce positive crypto regulation.
The
community now awaits a formal announcement from the government as well as the
supreme court hearing on July 23. The court is expected to address two
crypto-related issues: the regulatory framework recommended by the Garg
committee and the banking restriction by the central bank.
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