Underlined that global consensus is necessary for regulation of crypto, before India makes any move on it, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said a global template may have to be created and everyone will have to work together on it, otherwise regulating it will not be effective.
However, the Minister said that it does not mean controlling of 'distributed ledger technology', which has its qualities and potential.
The G 20 of which India is currently holding the presidency, it was India's proposal and it has been taken on board, I am glad that the G 20 has kept it in its agenda for this year, the IMF gave a paper on crypto currency and the way it can affect macroeconomic stability. The Financial Stability Board FSB, set up by G-20, has agreed to give a report focusing on financial stability.
The FSB report and IMF's report are going to be discussed in July when Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meet under the G-20 and post that in September there will be a summit of prime ministers and presidents of G 20 nations that will be held in India.
The minister was responding to a question about regulating digital or crypto currency during the interaction with a 'Thinkers forum, Karnataka' in Bengaluru.
The First G 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors FMCBG meeting under the G 20 Indian Presidency was held in Bengaluru on 24 - 25 February.
The underlying principle is that the digital currencies are completely digitalised and technology-driven, the technology which is very distributed, and some times identity is very difficult to be established, but which has potential, which will therefore have to be acted upon only with all countries coming on board, she said.
No one country can effectively control a cryptocurrency asset, because technology doesn't have any borders, it can just pass through. So the very character of it being technology driven requires all countries to be on board, or else it will not be effective, she said.
The minister further said that the understanding in the G20, along with the OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and other organizations like IMF, World Bank and so on, is that a worldwide template may have to be created, adding that all of us will have to work together on it, otherwise regulating crypto may not be effective. But that doesn't mean that we are controlling the technology of distributed ledger technology - it has its qualities, potential and own strengths. We keep that in mind, she said. Addressing the global community for its own way through the pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and its spillovers, Sitharaman said inflation in India is mostly imported because of the cost of fuel and fertilizers.
So you are bringing it all in, while your own cause for inflation may be supply side - that inflation in India we are aware of and every government fights it. Today the pressure on inflation in India is largely because of the imported hikes in prices, she said, adding that amid all this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured that people of India will not be put to suffering.