Indian billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has said the country’s regulators should ban cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.
The investor, sometimes called Indian Warren Buffett, said he would “never buy bitcoin.”
“I think this is the highest speculation. I do not want to join every party in the city. I think the hangover is much worse,” he told CNBC’s Street Signs Asia on Tuesday.
According to data from Coin Metrics, Bitcoin had a spectacular run in 2021 and has risen more than 90% so far this year.
These strong gains are attributed in part to the increasing acceptance of bitcoin by major investors and companies, including Elon Musk’s Tesla and the Bank of New York Mellon.
Indian regulators have yet to make a decision on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but it is widely speculated that the government intends to ban all private virtual currencies and introduce its own official digital currency.
I think regulators should step in and ban bitcoin. And they need to focus on the digital rupee.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala
Partner, Rare Businesses
Jhunjhunwala said the regulators of India have a role to play in keeping bitcoin out.
“I think regulators should step in and ban bitcoin,” says the investor who is currently a partner at asset management firm Rare Enterprises. “And they need to focus on the digital rupee.”
Bullish over India
With a view to the country, he was optimistic and said he believed India would recover strongly based on the reforms and policy initiatives taken by the government in the recent budget.
“I think we now have an emerging India. The Indian budget has shown that the government is going to do what needs to be done in terms of policies and reforms. All these things are going to come together,” he added.
During the recent budget release, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to increase capital investment and implement financial sector reforms to support India’s battered economy following the slowdown caused by the pandemic.
She also said that India would have to borrow 800 billion rupees ($ 10.96 billion) from the bond market in the next two months.
The billionaire predicted that India will see strong growth in the coming year as the country recovers from the pandemic.
“I think India is in the final stages of Covid-19,” he said, adding that the country is likely to grow between 10% and 11% next year.