The board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) met in Lucknow on Friday and discussed various aspects related to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and private cryptocurrencies.
The discussions around the subject come at a time the government is planning to bring in a legislation cryptocurrencies, though the central bank remains sceptical of private cryptocurrency. The RBI statement did not provide details of the meeting.
The Centre has listed Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, for consideration in the ongoing winter session of Parliament. But reports said it may not be taken up during in the present session.
The RBI has on many occasions expressed its strong views against cryptocurrencies, saying they pose a serious threats to the macroeconomic and financial stability of the country.
It has also cast doubts on the number of investor accounts and their ticket size,with a substantial portion between Rs 500 and Rs 2,000.
Last month, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das warned there were “far deeper issues” involved and that when a central bank expresses its apprehension on the virtual currency, it needs more discussions.
Speaking to the press after its monetary policy meeting last week, Das said the RBI was at an advanced stage of introducing the digital currency, but was also taking care to ensure cyber security.
“Just as a few years ago the major concern was fake Indian currency notes, similar things can also happen when we are launching CBDC,’’ he had said.
The RBI statement said the board discussed the present domestic and global economic situation.The RBI has been less proactive on inflation compared to its global peers and has adopted a benign view on prices.
Besides Das, deputy-governors Mahesh Kumar Jain, Michael Patra, M Rajeshwar Rao, and T Rabi Sankar were present at the meeting. RBI board directors Satish K Marathe, S Gurumurthy, Revathy Iyer and Sachin Chaturvedi attended the meeting. Debasish Panda, secretary, department of financial services, were also present.
