According to local news reports, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has made it mandatory for companies dealing with virtual currencies to disclose profit or loss incurred on crypto transactions and the amount of cryptos they hold in their balance sheets. This could possibly mark the first move by the government to regulate cryptocurrencies and related transactions in the country.
Companies need to disclose their crypto holdings.
In a notification issued, the Corporate Affairs Ministry announced the amendments made in schedule III of the Companies Act with effect from April 1, 2021. According to the amendments, companies, which have traded or invested in cryptos during a financial year, must disclose, “first, profit or loss on transactions involving cryptocurrency or virtual currency; second, amount of currency held as at the reporting date, and third, deposits or advances from any person for the purpose of trading or investing in cryptocurrency,” the notification read. The recent surge in crypto prices has created an urgency among governments worldwide to regulate the industry properly.
India plans to ban all cryptocurrencies.
As reported earlier, the recently proposed bill in India can be one of the world’s strictest actions against crypto and would not only criminalize possession, issuance, mining, trading, and transfer of crypto but also leave a big dent in the crypto market in Asia. The ongoing pandemic had pushed people to seek alternative payment routes, and India was among the countries witnessing a growing population of peer-to-peer users. If the bill becomes law, India would be the first major economy to make holding cryptocurrency illegal. Even China, which has banned mining and trading, does not penalize possession. India is also exploring the idea of having a central bank-backed digital currency.
