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RBI Backs Crypto Ban, Tax Department Warns of Evasion Risks, Documents Show
Documents show Indian agencies want tighter crypto limits as tax officials warn offshore trading and private wallets make gains harder to track.
The Reserve Bank of India recently reasserted that policies "leaning towards prohibition" may be warranted for cryptocurrencies, despite India allowing digital assets to exist in a grey zone since a 2018 court ruling.
India's tax department warned that trading via offshore exchanges makes tracking beneficial owners difficult, citing instances where fewer than one-quarter of 645,000 individuals who transacted in the fiscal year ending March 2023 reported them.
Despite policy ambiguity, the country holds nearly 39 million crypto traders possessing about $2.1 billion in digital assets as of May, while India imposes a 30% tax on cryptocurrency gains that remains difficult to enforce.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is examining accounting standards for virtual digital assets, while globally Japan and Singapore have moved to regulate cryptocurrencies and China has prohibited them entirely.
Authorities remain concerned about risks to financial stability as cryptocurrencies trade without clear rules, while a 2021 draft legislation to ban private cryptocurrencies was never introduced in Parliament and discussion papers have been deferred repeatedly.