Nirmala Sitharaman says India’s capacity to absorb external shocks is strong amid global economic transformation

In a hint towards a possible shift in India’s cryptocurrency policy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday (October 3, 2025) said that countries would have to “prepare to engage” with stablecoins whether they welcome the change or not. 

This comes at a time when the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India have both voiced their reservations about private cryptocurrencies, or virtual digital assets (VDAs), as they are also called. India has not legalised these products in terms of regulation, but it does tax transactions that involve them. 

The RBI, on the other hand, has lobbied hard to ban VDAs outright, while simultaneously launching pilot projects of its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). CBDCs are basically cryptocurrencies issued by central banks and that have the same legal backing as official currency. 

“Innovations like stablecoins are transforming the landscape of money and capital flows,” Ms. Sitharaman said during her inaugural address at the Kautilya Economic Conclave. “These shifts may force nations to make binary choices: adapt to new monetary architectures or risk exclusion.” 

“Such developments underscore the scale of the transformation underway,” she added. “They also remind us that no nation can insulate itself from systemic change. Whether we welcome these shifts or not, we must prepare to engage with them.”

Stablecoins are a form of cryptocurrency that attempt to maintain stable prices as they are pegged to an underlying asset, such as a basket of currencies or precious metals.

The Finance Minister also noted that India’s capacity to absorb external shocks is strong and that its economic leverage was evolving.   

“Wars and strategic rivalries are redrawing the boundaries of cooperation and conflict,” Ms. Sitharaman said. “Alliances that once appeared solid are being tested, and new coalitions are emerging. For India, these dynamics highlight both vulnerability and resilience.” 

However, despite this reliance, she also cautioned that there was no time for complacency. 

“Just as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, eternal performance is the price of strategic independence,” Ms. Sitharaman said. “There is no room for complacency or self-congratulation beyond a quiet confidence in our abilities to take the right decisions and execute them.”