India Reviewing Its Crypto Stance as Global Outlook Eases: Reuters

The Indian government is rethinking its stance on crypto as the global view on digital assets starts to thaw, Reuters reported on Monday.

Although crypto is unregulated in India, the country started taxing digital assets in 2022, charging 1% tax-deducted-at-source (TDS) on crypto transactions and introducing a 30% capital gain tax. Since then, the crypto sector has been trying to get the Narendra Modi-led government to ease taxation and bring policy clarity to grow digital assets in the country, but to no avail.

The Indian government’s review comes as Donald Trump’s crypto friendly regime has reignited hopes of widespread crypto adoption in the U.S. and approval of more financial products linked to tokens.

“More than one or two jurisdictions have changed their stance towards cryptocurrency in terms of the usage, their acceptance, where do they see the importance of crypto assets. In that stride, we are having a look at the discussion paper once again,” India’s Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth told Reuters in an interview.

The discussion paper on crypto was put on hold last year as officials were focusing on other priorities, as reported by CoinDesk.