Parliament Panel Wraps Year-Long Crypto Review, Report Due Soon

India’s government will respond on cryptocurrency policy next week, after which Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance will prepare and submit its formal report, committee chairman Bharthari Mahtab said Monday.

A Year of Closed-Door Consultations

Mahtab told reporters in Delhi the committee’s engagement with virtual digital assets began with its first meeting in September 2025. Since then, beyond the Department of Economic Affairs, the panel has held a series of discussions with the Reserve Bank of India, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, and other stakeholders registered to deal with virtual assets in various capacities.

Monday’s session brought a “round up discussion” of that year-long process, though Mahtab indicated the committee has not yet settled on a unified position. “We still have certain theories,” he said, framing the committee’s central dilemma bluntly: the government neither accepts virtual digital assets nor wants to regulate them, yet that regulatory vacuum is itself creating room for misuse. “Not regulating it is also leaving greater scope for different types of indulgences,” he said.

UPI Concerns Raised, But Not Formally On Today’s Agenda

Mahtab also confirmed that concerns around UPI, India’s unified payments interface, were raised informally during discussions, though the topic wasn’t part of Monday’s official proceedings. He said the matter is expected to be taken up by a newly constituted committee once it comes into existence in October.

What Happens Next

The session formed part of the Standing Committee’s ongoing effort to gather oral evidence directly from the Finance Ministry on crypto policy. With the government’s formal response expected next week, the committee’s eventual report will mark one of the clearest signals yet of where Indian lawmakers stand on regulating, restricting, or continuing to leave virtual digital assets in their current uncertain legal status.