The spur for the draft cabinet note was the March 4 decision of the Supreme Court to quash the April circular from the RBI that prevented banks from providing services in support of cryptocurrencies, said the official cited above.
cryptocurrency: With a law, India plans lasting ban on cryptos - The Economic Times
The note will be sent to the cabinet after consultations and, subsequently, to Parliament. If it is along similar lines as an earlier proposal the law will deal a blow to investors, exchanges and other entities dealing in virtual currencies such as bitcoin , experts said.
A high-level government panel, in July , prepared a draft law providing for a ban on all forms of private cryptocurrencies. It had suggested a fine of up to Rs 25 crore and imprisonment of up to 10 years for anyone dealing in them.
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Mariyappan Veluswamy days ago. Banning crypto in India is equal to killing the blockchain technologies innovation which will lead lot of opportunities miss in India and given to other Asian countries. Only who don't understand clearly the Blockchain technologies may recommend to ban those wise to learn. It is also killing very large many opportunities to our major GDP producing Industry called IT industry if it is banned. Good and wise thought would be to consult crypto exchanges people and entrepreneurs in india and frame a regularity and taxation.
India plans to introduce law to ban Bitcoin, other private cryptocurrencies
Please do not kill the upcoming blockchain technologies which is initiated and implemented through crypto and will be the best case study to win large many deals in blockchain for across all industries and blockchain is going to be the future for all transactions which ensure high level of security and accuracy and transaction happened in nano milli seconds, many fold more than the speed of light. I am confident that our govt is forward thinking gov and very innovative mind and will understand and in win-win situation they will successfully implement the framework and will enable crypto with excellent regularity and taxation framework Also crypto will help retail investors and youngsters to earn some pocket money for their daily expenses and it will also encourage to aspiring entrepreneurs to start many startups in Blockchain technologies in India through that lot of job opportunities would be created and will fuel to India GDP growth.
Ram Prakash Shroff days ago. In China had to fight a war with India now they have achieved without the war, this is the development of the last 6 years and the outcome of Modiji and Xping friendship. Modi ahi to mumkin hai. View Comments Add Comments. Under the lens Medical kickbacks thrive as private healthcare has patients in a pincer grasp.
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Is it safe to invest in cryptocurrency from India?
Browse Companies:. To see your saved stories, click on link hightlighted in bold. Find this comment offensive? This will alert our moderators to take action Name Reason for reporting: Foul language Slanderous Inciting hatred against a certain community Others. And hence cryptocurrencies could be used to transfer illegal money or evade taxes. Besides the misuse of virtual currency, security is also a grave concern.
While it is impossible to tamper with the ledger or key of digital coins, they can be stolen from the wallet of exchanges, which has happened in the past in India and across the world. A Delhi-based cryptocurrency exchanged had filed a complaint against its employee for hacking and stealing bitcoins from a wallet. So, even as bitcoin continues to outperform other asset classes and has certain advantages, the concerns around cryptocurrencies are hard to ignore, especially for a regulator.
By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy. Skip to navigation Skip to content. These are some of our most ambitious editorial projects. From our Obsession. New technology is upending everything in finance, from saving to trading to making payments. By Prathamesh Mulye Writer, banking and economy. Trade Financing.
Reduced operational complexity and transaction costs. The BBMP Act, seeks to improve decentralisation, ensure public participation, and address certain administrative and structural concerns in Bengaluru. The Constitution 74th Amendment Act, provided for the establishment of urban local bodies ULBs including municipal corporations as institutions of local self-government.
It also empowered state governments to devolve certain functions, authority, and power to collect revenue to these bodies, and made periodic elections for them compulsory. Urban governance is part of the state list under the Constitution.
Thus, the administrative framework and regulation of ULBs varies across states. However, experts have highlighted that ULBs across India face similar challenges. For instance, ULBs across the country lack autonomy in city management and several city-level functions are managed by parastatals managed by and accountable to the state. Several taxation powers have also not been devolved to these bodies, leading to stressed municipal finances. These challenges have led to poor service delivery in cities and also created administrative and governance challenges at the municipal level.
It adds a new level of zonal committees to the existing three-tier municipal structure in the city, and also gives the Corporation some more taxation powers. Certain common issues in urban local governance in India, with provisions related to them in the BBMP Act, are given below. Functional overlap with parastatals for key functions. The Constitution 74 th Amendment Act, empowered states to devolve the responsibility of 18 functions including urban planning, regulation of land use, water supply, and slum upgradation to ULBs.
However, in most Indian cities including Bengaluru, a majority of these functions are carried out by parastatals. For example, in Bengaluru, the Bengaluru Development Authority is responsible for land regulation and the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board is responsible for slum rehabilitation.
The BBMP Act, provides the Corporation with the power and responsibility to prepare and implement schemes for the 18 functions provided for in the Constitution 74 th Amendment Act, However, it does not provide clarity if new bodies at the municipal level will be created, or the existing parastatals will continue to perform these functions and if so, whether their accountability will shift from the state to the municipal corporation. This could create a two-fold challenge in administration. First, if there are multiple agencies performing similar functions, it could lead to a functional overlap, ambiguity, and wastage of resources.
Several experts have highlighted that this lack of autonomy faced by municipal corporations in most Indian cities leads to a challenge in governance, effective service delivery, and development of urban areas. An Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure had recommended that activity mapping should be done for the 18 functions.
Under this, functions in the exclusive domain of municipalities and those which need to be shared with the state and the central government must be specified.
Experts have also recommended that the municipality should be responsible for providing civic amenities in its jurisdiction and if a parastatal exercises a civic function, it should be accountable to the municipality. Stressed municipal finances. Indian ULBs are amongst the weakest in the world in terms of fiscal autonomy and have limited effective devolution of revenue.
They also have limited capacity to raise resources through their own sources of revenue such as property tax. Municipal revenue in India accounts for only one percent of the GDP This leads to a dependence on transfers by the state and central government. This has been attributed to limited powers to raise revenue and levy taxes, and problems in the management of existing resources.
In comparison, Karnataka ranks high among Indian states in key indicators for fiscal capacity like collection of property taxes, grants from Central Finance Commissions, and state government transfers. The BBMP Act, further increases the taxation powers of the Corporation, by allowing it to impose taxes on professions and entertainment. Experts have recommended that the central government and the respective state government should provide additional funds and facilitate additional funding mechanisms for ULBs to strengthen their finances.
The revenue of ULBs can be augmented through measures including assignment of greater powers of taxation to the ULBs by the state government, reforms in land and property-based taxes such as the use of technology to cover more properties , and issuing of municipal bonds debt instruments issued by ULBs to finance development projects. Powers of elected municipal officials. The executive power with state-appointed municipal Commissioners and elected municipal officers differs across states.
States like Tamil Nadu and Gujarat , and cities like Chennai and Hyderabad vest the executive power in the Commissioner. In contrast, the executive power of the Corporation is exercised by a Mayor-in council consisting of the Mayor and up to 10 elected members of the Corporation in Kolkata and Madhya Pradesh.
This is unlike large metropolitan cities in other countries like New York and London , where elected Mayors are designated as executive heads. Experts have noted that charging Commissioners with executive power diluted the role of the Mayor and violated the spirit of self-governance. The Mayor is responsible for approving contracts and preparing the budget estimate for the Corporation.
He is also required to discharge all functions assigned to him by the Corporation. On the other hand, executive functions of the Chief Commissioner include: i selling or leasing properties owned by the Corporation, and ii regulating and issuing instructions regarding public streets. The Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure has recommended that the Commissioner should act as a city manager and should be recruited through a transparent search-cum-selection process led by the Mayor.
Cryptocurrency Exchange Regulations
A Model Municipal law, released by the Urban Development Ministry in , provided that the executive power should be exercised by an Empowered Standing Committee consisting of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and seven elected councillors. Management of staff and human resources. Experts have noted that municipal administration in India suffers from staffing issues which leads to a failure in delivering basic urban services. These include overstaffing of untrained manpower, shortage of qualified technical staff and managerial supervisors, and unwillingness to innovate in methods for service delivery.
The BBMP Act, provides that the Corporation may make bye-laws for the due performance of duties by its employees. However, it does not mention other aspects of human resource management such as recruitment and promotion. A CAG report looking at the implementation of the Constitution 74th Amendment Act, in Karnataka has observed that the power to assess municipal staff requirements, recruiting such staff, and determining their pay, transfer and promotion vests with the state government. This is in contrast with the recommendations of several experts who have suggested that municipalities should appoint their personnel to ensure accountability, adequate recruitment, and proper management of staff.
Other states including Kerala , Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu also allow the state governments to regulate recruitment and staffing for ULBs. In cities like Mumbai , and Coimbatore , and some states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh , while the recruitment process is conducted by the respective municipal corporations, the final sanction for hiring staff lies with the state government. This blog has been updated on Jan 19, to also cover the Madhya Pradesh Ordinance which was promulgated earlier in the month.
The comparison table has also been revised accordingly.