India's Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is pushing for faster settlement cycles in the stock market, aiming to compete with the instant settlement offered by cryptocurrency markets. SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch warned that investors could move towards crypto if traditional markets don't adapt.
"If our well-regulated market cannot compete with the crypto world and cannot say we also offer you tokenization and instantaneous settlement over the medium term, I won’t even say long term, you should expect investors to move," Buch said.
India plans to introduce a same-day settlement cycle on an optional basis starting March 28, making it the second country in the world after China to do so. Traditionally, settlements take two days. SEBI also has a broader plan for mandatory instant settlement by March 2025, subject to board approval.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the nation's central bank, remains a staunch critic of cryptocurrencies. A central bank official recently said that cryptocurrencies cannot be deemed “currencies” as “they don't have any underlying value.” This comes while the central bank is promoting its own central bank digital currency (CBDC).