Not in favour of outright Crypto ban: CII chief

Sanjiv Bajaj
| Photo Credit: JAYANT PEDNEKAR

India should desist from imposing an outright ban on crypto currencies and virtual digital assets, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president Sanjiv Bajaj said, noting that there can be positive uses for such products as well.

“At CII, we believe that these are new innovative assets or tools or products that are coming out. We should not outright ban them,” Mr. Bajaj said in an interview with The Hindu.

“We know they have negatives, but they can create positives as well and they globally connect the world,” he said. “So, our suggestion is to monitor and regulate them, perhaps in a sandbox environment, try them out in a more controlled environment and learn from them, and then decide what makes sense and what doesn’t,” he mooted, adding that the country can then assess whether they are beneficial or not.

One of CII’s recommendations to financially support India’s growth, whether in investments, consumption or protection, is to allow non-banking finance firms to do ‘more and more of what banks are allowed to do, with the proper risk containment measures and supervision in place,’ Mr. Bajaj said, citing such firms’ growth over the past decade.

On the rupee’s decline to record lows, Mr. Bajaj said that whichever way the currency goes, it will add to some firms’ costs and benefit others but gradual movement is critical.  

“Eventually, water must find its own level. As long as it’s not creating a tsunami and volatility is reduced, so that it occurs in a gradual manner, businesses can take those costs or benefits into account depending on which side of the equation they are in,” he said.