The government of India and its security agencies are currently probing three crypto firms for allegedly participating in a drug business. The probe is led by the enforcement directorate and the income-tax department.
So far, the agencies have identified transactions worth up to 28,000 crore rupees ($3.4 billion). According to local media reports, over 200 transactions with Cryptocurrencies have been reportedly discovered by the security agencies handling the probe.
These illegal drug transactions were done between 2019 to 2021 in tax havens like the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands. The reports disclosed that the transactions were all carried out via crypto exchange companies in India, citing inputs from top government workers.
India’s government has conducted many inspections and searches or raids towards crypto exchanges this year concerning the issues of money laundering. Apart from the recent investigation relating to drug trafficking, there has also been a spike in the number of criminal cases surrounding the narcotics trade and cryptocurrency.
In April, India’s government told parliament that it discovered transactions worth around $266,750 in crypto in 11 cases. This is because cryptocurrency gives traffickers good anonymity while avoiding financial regulations.
CBDC and Its Impact On India’s Financial Landscape
Last year, India was on the verge of becoming one of the biggest economies to use a central bank digital currency in the world after the RBI proposed it to the government. This led the central bank to suggest an amendment to the RBI Act of 1934 to expand the meaning of banknote and put money in electronic format.
A top government official from the Finance Ministry, Pankaj Chaudhary, reacted to the proposal by saying: “RBI has been checking use cases and evaluating a phased implementation strategy for the introduction of Central bank digital currency (CBDC) without disruption.”
By the beginning of next year, India will officially launch its national digital currency (Digi Rupee). Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman gave a hint while presenting the 2022 Budget 2022 earlier this year. Meanwhile, virtual digital assets like cryptocurrencies, non-fungible or governance tokens, and gaming coins, are not recognized as legal tender in India.
However, the massive growth of the cryptocurrency industry from 17 to 90 million users over March 2021-2022 led the government to take a regulatory step.
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