No plans to introduce cryptocurrency, says Government

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: MoS Finance

There is no plan to introduce cryptocurrency by the government, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Currently, cryptocurrencies are unregulated in India, he said in a written reply.

"RBI does not issue cryptocurrency. Traditional paper currency is a 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)," he said.

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 said in another reply.

Introduction of CBDC has the potential to provide significant benefits such as reduced dependency on cash, higher seigniorage due to lower transaction costs, etc, he added.

Printing of notes have declined over a period of time, he said, adding, during 2019-20 notes worth ₹4,378 crore were printed which came down to ₹4,012 crore in 2020-21.