Need global action on payment systems: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday said technology does not respect physical borders and there is a need for global action in developing regulations for technology-driven payment systems including cryptocurrencies.

Speaking virtually at the InFinity Forum — organised by the International Financial Services Centres Authority, in partnership with GIFT City and Bloomberg — she said, “Even as we are thinking at a national level, there should simultaneously be a global mechanism through which we are constantly monitoring the movement of technology, so that whether it is your cryptocurrency, tech-driven payment systems, data privacy, whether it is ensuring that data is used ethically,” adding there is need for global collective action in these areas.

The Centre has listed the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, for introduction in the Lok Sabha in the Winter session. It seeks to “create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India”.

In response to a query on how regulations can keep pace with evolving technology, Sitharaman said regulation — legislative as well as executive — have so far only been catching up with technology. “So as long the executive and legislature are only catching up, you will never be on top of it. And with technology, I am not sure they (regulators) can ever be on top of this kind of situation, because it is ever changing and ever evolving,” she said.