India Will Decide on Its Crypto Stance in Coming Months

India will analyse and decide its own position on crypto in the coming months after considering global leaders’ stance on an acceptable crypto rule framework, which were part of the Group of Twenty (G20) deliberations, a senior official of India’s Finance Ministry said on Sunday.

Speaking to a scrum of journalists on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ summit, Ajay Seth, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, said “India’s position will be decided in the coming months.” He added that since “the framework for assessing risk has been put together by the G20” we will analyse “what globally the leaders have agreed to” and then decide on “what will be a sound policy for India.”

India’s position on crypto has been under scrutiny for years as a nation which had a burgeoning industry before the industry suffered a series of blows in the form of harsh taxes, a crypto winter, a “shadow ban,” anti-money laundering rules and enforcement actions against major crypto exchanges. The scrutiny increased after India made framing global crypto rules a priority for its G20 presidency, a goal it achieved in the form of a “synthesis paper” from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Financial Stability Board (FSB).

Seth’s comments on Sunday indicate a shift towards the possibility that India may frame its own legislation, a first since India suspended plans for comprehensively legislating crypto through a bill in early 2022.

Indian officials have told CoinDesk previously that the nation doesn’t need to necessarily frame its own crypto regulations in the form of a bill.

While the FSB requires a review of the status of implementation of its recommendations, by end-2025, India has already brought in anti-money laundering rules and a tax structure for crypto and that may be enough, an official told CoinDesk in August. While the nation’s central bank has advocated for a ban on crypto, the government has not indicated any such position and, for the moment, the government is unlikely to go down that path. The synthesis paper has also said a blanket ban won’t work.

Prior to the G20 Leaders’ Summit last weekend, India had released its presidency note on crypto, an official document relating its position on crypto as recommendations before the synthesis paper was finalized.