Minister of State (MoS) Finance Bhagwat Karad on Tuesday in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament said that blockchain is on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) priority list as one of the innovative technologies. “RBI’s admission that it hasn’t identified any specific area for using blockchain for Indian banks signals that a lot of ground needs to be covered to accelerate the adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the banking industry,” Sharat Chandra, co-founder, India blockchain forum told FE Blockchain.
Karad further mentioned that RBI’s regulatory sandbox has not identified any specific areas as such for the use of blockchain technology (BCT) for Indian banks. “The government is noting the potential of blockchain and its readiness to embrace change,” Vikram Subburaj, CEO and co-founder, Giottus, a cryptocurrency trading platform, added.
Karad further explained that under the cross-border payments (CBP) theme of the regulatory sandbox of RBI, participating entities had tested specific blockchain-based applications.
It is to be further noted that as per a report from Nasscom, an Indian tech industry, the Web3.0 industry can add $1.1 trillion to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2032. “Blockchain, as part of the Web3.0 ecosystem can generate many jobs in the coming years,” Subburaj added.
Meanwhile, the industry experts further noted that the Institute of development and research in banking and technology (IDRBT) is in the process of building a blockchain platform for banking needs. “ Blockchain adoption will get the necessary push only when RBI drives use case development beyond payments via regulatory mandates,” Chandra added.