The regulators should be well advanced and ahead of the curve in understanding digitisation to ensure that there is no misuse of technologies, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

“We cannot be behind the curve… the regulators will have to understand at what level and with what effect they need to come in. We have to be well advanced in this kind of situation rather than being caught unawares.”

But Sitharaman’s own ministry has not yet come out with a consultation paper on crypto currencies. The Union budget 2022 has just proposed to classify cryptos as virtual digital assets (VDA). However, the tax treatment is not like other assets.

Also, the Reserve Bank of India seems to have been caught napping in containing inflation and its 40 basis points rate hike last month seemed like a knee-jerk reaction.

Decriminalisation

Sitharaman, who also heads the ministry of corporate affairs, said de-criminalisation of technical and procedural violations was a very important step taken during the pandemic.

The finance minister cited the Prime Minister who said “trust your businesses, give them confidence that Government is looking at them favourably’”

Industry chamber CII has made some fresh recommendations: offences which are technical or which do not affect public interest prejudicially or which are not serious may be decriminalised.