Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that the consultations with the Reserve Bank of India are going on regarding the introduction of digital currency.
While addressing a town hall session with India's unicorn startups at the India Global Summit organised by the New India Inc, she said that the digital currency is expected to come out this year.
Talking about the announcement of a digital currency in this year's Budget, she said that it was a conscious call taken in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India.
She added that they see advantages in a central bank-driven digital currency due to the widespread digital penetration.
"Because in this day with digital payments happening between countries, large transactions between institutions, large transactions between central banks themselves of each country are all better enabled with the digital currency. And therefore we think RBI would be looking to see how best they can come up with it."
Ambiguity on crypto
The session also saw some of the unicorn startup founders ask the Minister some questions about their industries. Sitharaman had earlier in the discussion said "...I know as a topic you've touched only restricted to the digital currency, but I'm sure the audience here will be waiting for me to say something on the crypto."
CoinSwitch Founder & CEO Ashish Singhal asked the Minister regarding regulating the sector to which she replied saying that the consultations are on and welcomed interested parties in the domain to participate in it.
"...after the consultation process gets duly completed, the Ministry would sit in, probably mull over it, which is required because we need the executive to be sure that we are not crossing any legal requirements," she said.
She steered clear of further questions regarding the regulation and banning of cryptocurrency and said she'd talk more about it after the consultation.
On being asked if she sees a future for crypto within India, she said, "You know many Indians have seen a lot of future and they quite see a possibility for revenue with it."
Watch the latest DH Videos here: