India To Finalize Regulatory Bill on Cryptocurrencies By End of Year
It looks like India’s long-awaited and indecisive stand on cryptocurrencies can finally come to a conclusion before the end of 2018. According to a report by Quartz India, the dedicated panel for digital currency market, set by the Indian Finance Ministry last year, will submit its draft regulation the next month.
This development comes in response to the counter-affidavit filed by India’s ruling government in a Supreme Court case which was filed by several exchanges. The Indian cryptocurrency market is eagerly looking for some clear guidelines from the government after its central bank introduced a ban on all state-banking institutions asking them to cut their ties with the local crypto exchanges.
Post that the crypto exchanges knocked at the door of the India’s topmost judicial court seeking a ban reversal or at least some clarity regarding the state of cryptocurrencies. Several exchange have been since facing liquidity crunch of fiat deposits.
On the other hand, the Finance Ministry panel has been laggard in dealing with the regulatory matter. Earlier planned in July, the regulatory draft bill was postponed to September, and now ultimately to the year-end.
However, last month, India’s Supreme Court gave clear guidelines to the government to come clear on the regulatory matter in a short time. A small part of the counter-affidavit by the government, reads: “Serious efforts are going on for preparation of the draft report and the draft bill on virtual currencies, use of distributed ledger technology in (the) financial system and framework for digital currency in India.”
Moreover, the affidavit says that the regulatory report and draft bill shall be forwarded to all the members of the finance ministry’s inter-ministerial committee. The counter-affidavit reads: “The draft report and bill will be circulated to members of IMC (inter-ministerial committee). Thereafter the next meeting of IMC will be held so that discussion can take place on the draft report and bill. It is expected that the draft report will be placed before the IMC by next month.”
The next meetings of the panel headed by Subhash Chandra Garg will be held next month and another one in January 2019.