New Delhi, 01 February: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue digital currency using blockchain and other technologies from the financial year 2022-23, Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.
Presenting the Union Budget for the year 2022-23 in Parliament on Tuesday, the Finance Minister said that Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will give a big boost to the digital economy. At the same time, the digital currency will also promote a more efficient and cheaper currency management system.
Sitharaman said data centres and energy storage systems including dense charging infrastructure and grid-scale battery systems would be included in the harmonized list of infrastructures. He said it would facilitate credit availability for digital infrastructure and clean energy storage.
The Finance Minister proposed setting up of an expert committee in the budget to find and suggest appropriate measures to enhance venture capital and private equity investments. He informed that venture capital and private equity have fueled the largest start-up and growth ecosystems by investing over Rs 5.5 lakh crore in the last year.
She said the government will promote thematic funds for blended finance to encourage important growing sectors like climate action, deep-tech, digital economy, pharma and agri-tech. The government stake in this will be limited to 20 per cent and the fund will be managed by private fund managers.
She further said that work will also be done towards enhancing financial viability by adopting global best practices, innovative financing methods and balanced risk allocation.
30 percent tax on transfer of digital assets
In the budget speech, the Finance Minister also announced that transactions in the case of virtual digital assets have increased rapidly. In view of this, income from transactions of any virtual digital asset will be taxed at the rate of 30 percent.
She said that no deduction will be available on any expenditure except acquisition expenses. Any loss incurred during the transaction of digital assets shall not be balanced against any other income. 1 per cent TDS will be levied on payment made during the transaction of virtual property. This would be in addition to the monetary threshold. Virtual digital assets received as a gift will be subject to tax and tax will be payable by the recipient.
