By Shelly Melancon (Switzerland)
Despite worries that Indian authorities might stop all crypto-related activities, Nandan Nilekani has lent his vocal support for crypto trading in the country. The Indian tech billionaire calls the market a new asset for citizens. During an interview with Moneycontrol in a clubhouse session, Nandan said, “we need to allow our people to own some crypto, it is an asset category.”
Karthik Reddy, Venture capitalist, and Balaji Srinivasan, a popular crypto-evangelist were also present during the interview session. Balaji also supported Nilekani saying, India should lead the cause for decentralized crypto assets such as BTC and ETH to fast-track India’s growth to becoming a superpower. He also said it will prevent de-platforming and solidify national security. Nilekani tasked the Indian government with providing easier means for small and medium-scale businesses in the country to accept cryptocurrencies as a legal tender.
He continued by saying, “crypto transactions have significant value but they might not be as fast as the unified payment interface created by the national payments corporation of India which offers immediate real-time payment system.” Nilekani’s crypto advocacy should go a long way in persuading the Indian government to lend her support for cryptocurrency since his influence keeps growing being a co-founder of one of the biggest it and business consulting companies in the world known as Infosys. He’s also credited with India’s most sensitive digital projects such as FASTag (a highway toll collection system), Aadhar (an e-governance and identity system), and UPL (a digital payment network).
India Authorities’ Perspective About Cryptocurrency
Currently, India does not enjoy a smooth relationship with cryptocurrencies. Only a few Indian companies utilize blockchain technology, including a little over 300 startups. Also, there’s little or no regulation for the local sector which boasts of 75,000 Indians trading various virtual currencies.
Earlier this month, there were rumors of a potential cryptocurrency ban in the country which makes it illegal to own any crypto asset. The rumors were purportedly a statement of release by India’s central bank (the reserve bank of India). But a counter-report by Nirmala Sirharaman, India’s finance minister, stated that the authorities were still considering a financial by-law that will allow citizens to test out bitcoin.
A State-Supported Digital Currency Isn’t Necessary
Regardless of the contrasting views between the finance ministry and the RBI, Nilekani (an RBI advisor) has come out to say Indians have fully adopted the blockchain protocol. Then, he gave a detached opinion about RBI’s purported state-backed digital currency, saying, “I don’t think we should establish our stablecoin or digital rupee.”
He further stated that it would be a welcome idea to have a digital rupee in addition to the UPI (the country’s payment system). But users should be able to use it for international transactions. When there was a big push to replace paper cash with digital cash systems last year, the RBI suggested the use of a digital rupee. Governor Shakrikanta Das confirmed that the plan is underway but later added that crypto assets might be a cause of financial instability in the future.
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