The Finance Standing Committee of Parliament, headed by BJP MP and former Minister of State in the Finance Ministry, Jayant Sinha, decided on Monday to take up the issue of regulation of cryptocurrencies during the current one-year term of the panel.

The panel has selected about a dozen more issues such as the financial status of agriculture and MSME sectors for examination.

A member in the panel said they will try to speak to various stakeholders on the issue and submit the report during the next Budget session of Parliament.

“Almost all members agreed that the issue of regulation of cryptocurrencies should be examined. At the moment, neither the government nor the RBI have a clear policy on cryptocurrencies. We hope our effort will give a direction towards the drafting of such a policy,” a member told BusinessLine.

Competition regulations

The panel will also study the compliance of competition regulations by big technology companies.

“There are a number of complaints that big tech companies flout regulations. We will study the matter,” said another member.

The financial problems of agriculture and MSME sectors will be studied separately by the panel after the demands made by various MPs. They argued that the policies of governments have resulted in a realisation crisis for both the sectors.

There was also a demand that the financial position of State governments should be taken up by the panel. “We discussed whether such a subject could be taken up. There are technical issues involved, and we decided not to include it in the agenda,” said a member. The next meeting of the panel is on November 15. The panel had submitted about 28 reports during its last term. Reports on issues such as the global finacial slowdown and its impact on India are yet to be tabled.

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