India’s central bank chief has said the country’s stance on the issue of cryptocurrencies remains unchanged despite wider acceptance in other countries.
“Our position, my position and the RBI’s position on this (cryptocurrencies) remains unchanged irrespective of who does what,” Shaktikanta Das said in response to a question about the US regulators approving the first US-listed exchange traded funds (ETFs) to track bitcoin.
The central bank chief has repeatedly said cryptocurrencies have no underlying value and pose risks for macroeconomic and financial stability.
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The country imposed a 30% tax on trading, spending and selling cryptocurrency in 2022. The tax went into effect from April that year.
Das further cautioned that crypto remains a risky bet for emerging markets.
“For emerging market economies and for advanced economies also, travelling down that path will create huge risks which will be very difficult to contain going forward,” Das added.
Meanwhile, he highlighted the benefits of the central bank digital currencies, or e-rupee in India’s case.
He said the central bank is working on “programmability” of the e-rupee to enable cash transfers, such as targeted transfers to farmers.
The central bank also plans to start pilots for using the e-rupee in new segments in the wholesale space, he added.
The RBI and the National Payments Council of India are in talks with several countries for adoption of India’s payments system Unified Payments Interface for cross-board transactions, the governor said Thursday.
Das also said the central bank is closely looking at model-based artificial intelligence lending by financial entities.
- Reuters, with additional editing by Vishakha Saxena
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