Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi expressed alarm on Friday about unregulated virtual digital assets such as cryptocurrency, saying the government should issue legislation immediately to avoid their exploitation for reasons such as terror financing and drug smuggling.
While introducing a debate on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha, he said the government is still sending confusing signals on virtual digital assets and that the concept of crypto should be clarified. He said it's unclear if it's an asset, a currency, or anything that can be traded. Gogoi continued, "The government should take a position on this so that virtual digital assets do not become a favoured path for money laundering, drug smuggling, or criminal activity." "I expect the policy to be released sooner rather than later...crypto is currently a concern," he stated.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister, had already moved the Finance Bill for 2022-23 to be considered. In terms of the stock market, Gogoi says that there are a lot of unregulated advertising on social media tempting individuals to invest in stocks. He described it as "another bubble waiting to explode," adding that the government should consider it as well. High net worth individuals (HNIs) are the biggest contributor to revenue mobilisation, he added, noting that every government strives to broaden the tax base. According to him, there has been a 7,000-strong outflow of high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) from India since 2019.
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