According to IAMAI, there are more than 10 million crypto holders holding crypto assets worth over $1 billion in India and over 300 startups generating “tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue and taxes.
Indian cryptocurrency exchanges are ready to engage with the government, discuss, share inputs around framing regulations, and are even willing to share relevant data around it but there shouldn’t be a complete ban, according to Gaurav Chopra, Vice President, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). “There are many things you may lose by banning cryptocurrencies such as talent, economic benefit, taxation benefit, and more. We also want to protect customers from fly-by-night operators if there are any. So, let us bring in a transparent ecosystem that protects stakeholders,” Chopra told Financial Express Online.
IAMAI, which represented cryptocurrency players in India, on Tuesday said that cryptocurrency has been generating jobs across legal, compliance, tech, marketing, business development, finance, and other functions in India and abroad. Hence, given the scale and diversity, the good governance and regulation of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in India are critical, and that it will give impetus to the Digital India goal. According to IAMAI, there are more than 10 million crypto holders holding crypto assets worth over $1 billion in India and over 300 startups generating “tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue and taxes. Moreover, the daily crypto trading volume in India currently is between $350 Million and $500 Million.
Crypto startups have been voicing their concerns against the likely ban of ‘private cryptocurrencies’ by the government under the proposed Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021. However, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had recently told CNBC TV18 that the government wants to make sure that there is a window available for all kinds of experiments that will have to take place in the crypto world and that the government’s position on cryptocurrencies will be a “very calibrated” one.
“US, Japan, and other developed countries have a positive outlook towards crypto and are considering setting up of regulations for crypto…India should develop balanced and positive crypto regulations that will both ensure consumer protection as well as lead to more startups building in blockchain, more jobs, wealth creation for investors, and more tax revenue for the government,” Nishith Desai, Founder, Nishith Desai Associates said in a statement. “If govt comes out with self-regulation mechanism or with fully regulated mechanism, the industry is ready to comply. In fact, we are asking and welcoming if regulations can come. We want to have legitimate industry status,” added Chopra.
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