Bhartruhari Mahtab
Chair, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance; Lok Sabha MP (BJP)
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Bhartruhari Mahtab is a Lok Sabha MP for Cuttack in Odisha. He was born in 1957, is the son of former Odisha Chief Minister Harekrushna Mahtab, and holds an MA in English from Utkal University. He is a journalist and writer by profession and edits the Odia-language daily Prajatantra.
He was first elected in 1998 and is now in his seventh term. He sat for the Biju Janata Dal until March 2024, when he joined the BJP, and he won Cuttack for the BJP later that year. He was pro-tem Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha in June 2024 and has chaired the Standing Committee on Finance since September 2024. He received the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2017.
His committee chose virtual digital assets as a subject of study in August 2025. Over the next year it heard from exchanges, industry bodies, FIU-IND, the tax authorities, the RBI and the Ministry of Finance. In July 2026 its report on the Securities Markets Code, 2025 recommended an interim crypto regime run through self-regulatory organisations under SEBI or the RBI. The recommendation is not binding on the government.
Policy engagement
Chairs the Standing Committee on Finance's study of virtual digital assets, begun in September 2025; after its final evidence session in September 2026 he said non-recognition without regulation leaves room for abuse.
Key actions
After the committee's final hearing on virtual digital assets, said the government neither accepts nor regulates crypto and that not regulating it leaves room for abuse.
SourceHis committee tabled its 36th Report, on the Securities Markets Code, 2025, recommending interim crypto oversight through recognised self-regulatory organisations under SEBI or the RBI.
SourceChaired a sitting of the committee's crypto study that heard from ZebPay, Binance and WazirX, followed by IFSCA and the finance and corporate affairs ministries.
SourceThe Standing Committee on Finance chose A Study on Virtual Digital Assets and Way Forward as a subject for detailed examination.
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