Ripple executives say a concrete legislative framework for crypto in India is required to encourage institutional investment, but the country’s “grey zone” of digital asset regulation is stifling the industry. Ripple leaders say the policy is preventing banks and institutional investors from entering the crypto space.
Ripple’s Navin Gupta, managing director of South Asia and EMEA, and Sagar Sarbhai, the company’s head of government and regulatory affairs for Asia Pacific, said regulators should encourage more financial inclusion and lower barriers to commerce, push more digital payments, which has been a consistent theme in India, in Prime Minister Modi’s regime.
The lack of clarity, they said, is a massive deterrent for the capital markets. The country needs to give clear guidelines to foreign investors.
One of the hottest topics in the crypto industry is the idea of a Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, as nations around the world are exploring creating them to improve liquidity and potentially provide a credible alternative to the US dollar. The Ripple executives said for India, a retail CBDC may not be that feasible because of the policy angles.
Although India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a big advocate for a push towards digital payments, a combination of CBDC and digital assets would potentially boost that push towards digital payments, where digital assets will be the bridge between fiat currencies and potentially replacing them, believe experts.
