2024-03-15 14:09:02
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has given her reaction for the first time amid the ongoing political turmoil over electoral bonds. He said that the entire discussion regarding electoral bonds is based on speculations. He raised the question whether the earlier system was foolproof. Sitharaman admitted that it is not a perfect system but it is better than the previous system. He said that we need to learn from this. Nothing can be said right now whether there will be a new law regarding this or not. But we will continue to make efforts to make this system more transparent. On the instructions of the Supreme Court, SBI had sent the data of electoral bonds to the Election Commission, which has been made public by the Commission. Sitharaman said in the India Today Conclave, ‘The matter is still going on in the court. Was the earlier system foolproof? It is not a perfect system but it is better than the previous system. We need to learn from this. I am not commenting on whether there will be a new law regarding this or not. We will make efforts to make this process more transparent. The electoral bond system was different from the old system. In this, money was deposited into bank accounts through electoral bonds. The earlier system was not perfect but now we have reached a system which is not 100 percent perfect.
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What did you say about the stock market?
Sitharaman said that despite huge fluctuations globally, the Indian stock market has maintained a certain level of sanity and the market should be allowed to play its own way. This statement of the Finance Minister comes a few days after SEBI Chairperson Madhavi Puri Buch said that there is scope for a bubble in smallcap and midcap stocks and the regulator is considering coming out with a possible consultation paper. Sitharaman said, ‘I let the markets play their own way… We should leave it to the discretion of the market because we all have seen that despite huge fluctuations globally, the Indian market has shown a certain level of prudence. Is maintained. It hasn’t really been too violent one way or the other. So, I trust the market a lot.
Earlier this week, the capital markets regulator had raised concerns about overvaluation of smallcap and midcap stocks. Smallcaps and midcaps were indicating potential market manipulation and market bubble risks. Buch had said that there are some areas of foam in the smallcap and midcap sector in the equity markets which have the potential to form a bubble and burst which could impact investors. On crypto assets, Sitharaman said that they cannot be currencies and this is the stand of the Government of India. He said that currencies are issued by the government or the central bank.
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What is the government doing on cryptocurrencies?
He said crypto assets are tech-driven and impact cross-border payments. He said a comprehensive regulatory framework around such assets has been considered at the G20 level. The Finance Minister said, ‘If one country regulates and others do not, it will be an easy way of shifting funds, round-tripping or financing drugs or even terrorism. Therefore, we wanted to take it to the G20 level and create a framework. It has been very well received and I am sure some framework will emerge. The price of cryptocurrencies has increased significantly recently. The price of Bitcoin, the world’s largest, oldest and most popular cryptocurrency, has tripled in the last one year. Recently its price crossed $73,000.
(with input from language)