'No plan to introduce cryptocurrency', MoS Finance informs Rajya Sabha

There is no plan by the government to introduce cryptocurrency, the Parliament was told on Tuesday. There is no plan to introduce a cryptocurrency and currently it is unregulated in India, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

"Reserve Bank of India (RBI) does not issue cryptocurrency. Traditional paper currency is legal tender and is issued by RBI in terms of provisions of RBI Act, 1994. A digital version of traditional paper currency is called Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)," the minister said. 

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In reply to another question, the minister informed the upper house that the RBI is currently working towards a phased implementation strategy for introduction of CBDC and examining use cases which could be implemented with little or no disruption. He stated that introduction of CBDC has the potential to provide significant benefits such as reduced dependency on cash, higher seigniorage due to lower transaction costs, etc.

The minister further informed the house that printing of notes have declined over a period of time. "During 2019-20 notes worth Rs 4,378 crore were printed, while in 2020-21, notes worth Rs 4,012 crore were printed. In 2016-17, notes worth Rs 7,965 crore were printed," he said.

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