India not keen on Facebook’s Libra ‘cryptocurrency’

New Delhi, July 09: Facebook's new digital currency Libra has received an early jolt from India. The authorities in Asia's third-largest economy are no more keen on the social media giant's project than any cryptocurrency that came before it.

India's Economic Affairs Secretary, Subhash Garg, has confirmed that India is less than keen on Facebook's current effort to create a private, global currency network aimed particularly at citizens in the developing world, Bloomberg reports. "But whatever it is, it would be a private cryptocurrency and that's not something we have been comfortable with."

Cryptocurrency businesses in India have been steadily closing down ever since a virtual ban on cryptocurrency trading came into effect in India in April 2018 when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a notice to all banks asking them to stop dealing with any cryptocurrency businesses.

Earlier, the the Supreme Court had also endorsed the ban in an interim order in July 2018. However, peer-to-peer trading of virtual currencies remains legal in India.

It is also learnt that Facebook has so far not approached either the government or the RBI seeking approval for operating Libra in the country as of now, Indian daily Economic Times confirmed citing sources from the company last week.

It should be noted that Facebook has more than 300 million users in India at present and Whatsapp boasts more than 400 million. The numbers are expected to surge further over the coming years.