Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: There is no proposal to recognize Bitcoin as a currency

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government has no proposal to recognize Bitcoin as the domestic currency, in a reply to the Lok Sabha on Monday.

She also informed the House of Representatives that the government does not collect data on Bitcoin transactions.

Regardless of whether the government has any proposal on recognizing Bitcoin as the domestic currency, the Finance Minister said “No, sir”.

Bitcoin is a digital currency that allows people to buy goods, services, and exchange money without involving banks, credit card issuers, or other third parties.

It was introduced in 2008 by an unknown group of programmers as a cryptocurrency as well as an electronic payment system. It is said to be the first decentralized digital currency where peer-to-peer transactions take place without any intermediaries.

Meanwhile, the government plans to introduce the Cryptocurrencies and Regulations of the Digital Currency Bill officially 2021 during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament. The bill seeks to ban all but a few private cryptocurrencies for the promotion of underlying technologies while allowing the RBI to become a full-fledged digital currency.

In response to another question, Ms. Sitharaman said, ministries and departments spent Rs 2.29 lakh crore as capital expenditures in the April-September period of the current fiscal.

This is 41% of the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 5.54 lakh for 2021-22. Actual spending in the current fiscal year is about 38% higher than the corresponding spending in the 2020-21 fiscal year, she said.

To accelerate capital spending on creating and upgrading infrastructure in the economy, the Government of India has launched the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) with the expected level of infrastructure investment. is Rs 111 lakh crore for the period 2020-2025 to provide world class infrastructure across the country, and enhance the quality of life for all citizens.

NIP was launched with 6,835 projects, has expanded to more than 9,000 projects covering 34 sub-sectors. NIP is expected to improve project preparation, attract investment in infrastructure and play an important role in economic growth, she said.

The National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) was also launched on August 23, 2021, she added, to unlock the value of investments in public sector assets by tapping into the capital of the public sector. efficient and private sector to provide infrastructure services. to enhance/create existing greenfield infrastructure to boost the economy.

Then she said, Gati Shakti (National Master Plan for Infrastructure Development) was launched on October 13, 2021 as a digital platform to connect Ministries/Departments together to plan integration and coordinate implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.

It will also facilitate last-mile connectivity of infrastructure and also reduce travel time for residents, she added.

Regarding inflation, the Finance Minister said that the price situation of key essential commodities is being regularly monitored by the Government and taking corrective measures in each period.

She said: “The upward trend of inflation is largely driven by exogenous factors. Rising international crude and cooking oil prices have an impact on domestic inflation as India is dependent on imports of these commodities. “.

The rise in WPI inflation was also largely driven by ‘fuel and energy’ inflation and manufactured products inflation, which was again driven by rising global crude oil prices and commodity/capital prices. international entry increased, she said.

Several supply-side measures have been taken by the government to limit inflationary pressures, she said.

To check petrol and diesel prices, Ms. Sitharaman said, the central government has reduced the central excise tax on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and 10, respectively, effective from Nov. 2021.

“In response, many state governments have also reduced Value Added Tax on gasoline and diesel,” she said. As a result, retail prices of gasoline and diesel have dropped.

As an additional measure to control prices, India has agreed to release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves, she added, adding that the release will take place in parallel and in consultation with other major global energy consumers including the United States, People. Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)