Speeches & Media Interactions

I. Introduction Distinguished industry leaders, colleagues and guests. 1. It is a privilege to be able to stand here and talk to such a learned gathering and I am thankful to Mint for inviting me. 2. Money, as we know it, has been a central pillar of human society for centuries, enabling trade, facilitating economic activity, and underpinning the very notion of trust in social and financial interactions. Over time, the form of money has evolved with technology - from commodities to metal to paper to balances in deposit accounts to now, digital tokens. While the forms of money have evolved with technology, the fundamental character of money - what it represents, or what gives it credibility – has always been that it represents value that has users’ trust. That value is either intrinsic (metal money) or derived from a promise to pay (paper money or deposit money) by a trusted person. Theoretically, money can be issued by any person as long as he has the trust of the users. The more stable forms of money in history have, however, always been issued by sovereigns, not by private issuers. Examples of private money (money issued by non-sovereigns) can be found in history but they have not been stable arrangements. In practice, therefore, money has credibility because its value is promised by the sovereign. 3. This fundamental character of money is under challenge from cryptocurrencies. Not in terms of technology, as money in the form of digital tokens can exist without changing the nature of money itself. But the fundamental challenge of cryptocurrencies is that they claim to change the very nature of money – because cryptocurrencies do not represent value either in terms of intrinsic worth or in terms of promise to pay. In my talk today, I propose to explore what the nature of such challenge is, and what are the implications of cryptocurrencies for the financial system as we know it. 4. To be able to understand the nature or character of money, we need to look a little deeper.

It gives me immense pleasure to participate in the FIBAC annual conference for this year. It brings together distinguished thought leaders and stakeholders of the Indian economy and our financial ecosystem to deliberate on critical and contemporary issues facing the economic landscape of our country. The topic of the Conference “Charting New Frontiers” is very relevant and topical as we respond to the new challenges of tariffs and geopolitical uncertainties. I am sure that the discussions in this conference will be very fruitful and provide deeper insights and guidance to all stakeholders, especially businesses, regulators and governments. This is all the more important as we strive to contribute in our journey for a Viksit Bharat by 2047. I compliment FICCI and IBA for organising this annual conference.

Participants of the ‘Management Development Programme on Financial Market Regulations’, Professors, ladies, and gentlemen. A very good morning to all of you! 2. At the outset, I would like to thank IIM, Kozhikode for inviting me here. It is a pleasure to address such a diverse gathering, ranging from policy veterans to important stakeholders across the financial landscape. The contents of programme span the issues around the regulatory framework of a diverse mix of entities operating in the financial markets including banks, securities firms, and insurance entities. 

The Karur Vysya Bank family - represented here by the Chairperson, the Directors on the Board, the shareholders, MD CEO, the staff, officials and the customers of the bank and their families, ladies and gentlemen, Anaivarukkum Vanakkam. Namaskaram. A warm good afternoon.