Bitcoin faces slim chance of becoming valid payment system in India: report

Digital currency bitcoin continues to get shunned in India.

After warning residents against the use of the popular cryptocurrency, reports now surfaced that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has no plans of including bitcoin in the list of legal forms of digital payments in the country.

A report published by India’s The Telegraph suggested that “attempts by bitcoin players to come under the ambit of the new body are unlikely to succeed as the government and the RBI are not in favour of legitimizing bitcoins as legal tender.” The Indian central bank has been awarded the power—under the Payments and Settlement Systems Act of 2007—to regulate the digital payments industry of India.

Several weeks ago, the central bank told traders that “dealing with virtual currencies will be doing so at their own risk” since RBI “has not given any license or authorization to any company to operate such schemes or deal with bitcoin or any virtual currency.” This prompted the small but growing local bitcoin industry to form the “Virtual Currency Association,” which has since set out to lobby the government to recognize and license bitcoin trading in the country.