India Committed To Debate Crypto Bill in Upcoming Parliamentary Session

The government of Indian has eventually decided that it cannot wait for debating the Indian crypto bill in the Parliamentary Session starting soon after the end of the year 2021. Instead, it is committed to bringing the bill under debate in the upcoming session which is scheduled to commence in the week beginning 29th November 2021. Along with the bill, the Government of India wishes to discuss in the Parliamentary Sessions the “digital Rupee” project undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India.

The lawmakers of India had already drafted the “Indian Crypto Bill”, which is awaiting debate in the Parliamentary Session. Currently, the Indian Crypto Bill has been entrusted to the Government of India for discussion and debate purposes. Initially, the plan was to bring the bill under debate in the Parliamentary Session which was to commence in the month of February 2022. However, the idea was dropped and the Government of India decided that it needed the crypto regulations now.

It has now been reconfirmed by the Indian Government that the bill will be brought under discussion in the upcoming Parliamentary session. The next session of the Indian Parliament is scheduled to take place in the week beginning on 29th November 2021. The Government is expecting that the Parliament will be able to approve and pass the Bill in the same session. The next Parliamentary Session spreads from 29th November till 23rd December 2021. The government of India believes that three weeks’ time is sufficient for Parliamentarians to discuss provisions of the bill and arrive at a consensus.

According to the gist of the Indian Crypto Bill, firstly the bill seeks to establish a supportive and favorable framework for the “digital Rupee” project. The “digital Rupee” is an official CBDC project undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India at the specific instructions of the Government of India. However, the project is still under development stage but the Reserve Bank of India believes that it can commence testing of the project.

Secondly, and most importantly, the bill also aims at denouncing certain uses of digital currencies. The denouncement includes the acceptance of digital currencies against goods and services in India. For settlement of payments, Indian Rupee will continue to hold the legal tender. However, the said provision shall not be applicable upon crypto trading and/or investment.

This has once again created an unclear crypto environment in India. Certainly, the Government of India’s attention is more focused on the digital Rupee project. It wants to make sure that if payment settlements are to be approved against digital currencies, then the digital currency must be a digital Rupee. But restricting the use of crypto other than trading, would not be in favor of Indian crypto users. In fact, this would badly affect the business of local and foreign crypto trading firms which are operating in India.