Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that India’s new blockchain-based digital currency will just be a virtual form of the standard Indian rupee (INR), the official currency of the country that now exists in a physical form. Just as the issuance of this currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the digital currency, too, will be regulated by the central bank, said the Prime Minister.

Modi was on this day addressing his fellow Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) colleagues on the Union Budget 2022-23 presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Highlighting key features of the annual financial statement, the Prime Minister said that the “people-friendly” has made adequate provisions for India’s upcoming digital currency, keeping in mind the rapidly changing financial scene that is increasingly dealing with cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other forms of digital assets.

Elaborating on the nature of this virtual currency, Prime Minister Modi said that it can be exchanged with its physical counterpart given that the two are equal in value but only different in form. This currency will strengthen the digital economy and boost the fintech sector, he said.

“In today’s newspaper, there has been a lot of discussion about the central bank’s digital currency,” said the Prime Minister in his televised address to BJP party workers today. “This will strengthen the digital economy. This ‘digital rupee’ will be the virtual form of our standard physical currency and will be overseen by the RBI. It can be exchanged with physical currency.”

Stressing on the fact that the annual budget is aimed at taking forward his government’s vision over the past seven years, the Prime Minister reminded his colleagues that in the wake of the pandemic, a new world order is in the making, where many of the things from a pre-Covid society is going to change.

“Post-pandemic, things are meant to change,” he said. “India, too, is seeing itself in a new light. The world’s perspective of looking at India has also changed a lot these days. It is imperative for us to take the country forward at a rapid pace by strengthening our economy with the goal of achieving Aatmanirbharta (self-dependency).”

The Prime Minister said that it is extremely important for India, as a modern nation, to be self-reliant. The nation’s economy is “continuously expanding” in the direction of modernity, he said.

“Digital payments will be regulated, much like standard currency is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),” the Prime Minister said. “Such payments are more secure, efficient, and safe, and goes a long way towards paving the way for a global digital payments’ infrastructure.”

Finance minister Sitharaman had a day prior unveiled the ₹39.45 lakh crore budget, wherein she announced that India’s own digital currency will soon be a reality. The currency will be issued by the RBI in 2022-23 using blockchain technology, the minister said, adding it will boost the digital economy.

Notably, the RBI had said in July last year that it was working towards its own digital currency. Calling it the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), RBI deputy governor T Rabi Sankar had said that it will be the same as a fiat currency and that it will be exchangeable one-to-one with the fiat.

He had further said that CBDC is not comparable to the private virtual currencies that have mushroomed over the last decade. Private virtual currencies sit at substantial odds with the historical concept of money, Sankar added.

The RBI has held on multiple occasions the opinion that cryptocurrencies like BitCoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin – among many others – pose a risk to financial stability. The central bank has also questioned the crypto market value, asking investors to not get “lured” by the promises of lucrative returns on these digital assets.

Complete News Source : HIndustan times