The latest bulletin that covers the agenda of India’s lower house of parliament features a lecture on understanding cryptos and their economic impact. Notably, the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill does not come up as one of the 15 bills the government body wishes to consider in its next session.
Based on a January 31 publication from the Lok Sabha, the Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies group that operates within the government has organized a training evening for the legislators on February 2 about crypto and its effects on the Indian economy.
Furthermore, the legislative operations and business calendar for the lower house of parliament no longer consists of a bill that may possibly ban cryptocurrency in the Asian subcontinent.
The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill will not be considered when the government body convenes for its next Budget Session. The past published texts of the bill proposing the banning of all the private cryptos in India except for the assets that are aimed at promoting “the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.”
This proposed legislation has come upon the nation’s parliamentary agenda many times since the Indian Supreme Court overturned a blanket ban on digital assets and crypto in 2021 that was previously imposed by the central bank. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might also be moving forward soon with tests of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), in this case, a digital rupee. But at the time of writing, officials are yet to announce a test run for the CBDC.
Most reports from the local media outlets have indicated that some of the legislators in India are looking for other legislative paths to handle the thriving crypto market, from proposing some of the projects that are being legally allowed to operate in the nation to taxing crypto revenue differently.
In October 2021, officials from the Finance Ministry allegedly considered the implementation of a legal infrastructure that might treat cryptos more like a commodity instead of a currency. The budget session officially started on January 31, with both Houses in the Indian Parliament scheduled to meet in different shifts to combat the spread of coronavirus. This session is expected to run until May 2022.
