The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, may not be tabled in the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament. The government is yet to finalise details of the Cryptocurrency Bill, according to people familiar with the matter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has called for more time for consultations before finalising the policy that proposes stricter regulations on digital currency, said the people, requesting anonymity, as the discussions are private. The Cabinet is also yet to approve the proposed legislation.
The current session of the Parliament ends on 23 December.
The schedule for the last week of the parliament session has dropped the Cryptocurrency Bill from the list of businesses on its website. However, the government can still bring in the legislation through an ordinance in periods when the Parliament is not in session.
As per the Lok Sabha bulletin issued in November, the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 "seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses."
The announcement of the Bill comes amid concerns that an unregulated environment could draw more domestic household savings toward the volatile assets and increased demands over stricter rules and vigilance of cryptocurrency in India.
The Bill also paves the way for the creation of a facilitative framework for an official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
(With inputs from BloombergQuint)
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