Dear Readers,
There were more affinity towards the cryptocurrencies in India.
There were more number of investors attracted towards the crypto investments from India and in India crypto investment base were steadily increased until the Union Budget in 2022.
Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, have seen wild growth over the past few years. Thus, Indian investors also started investing in cryptocurrencies. However, the Indian Apex Bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that cryptocurrencies should be banned in India. The Reserve Bank also stated that cryptocurrencies pose a risk to the economy.
Subsequently, in the Union Budget 2022, the Central Government announced that a 30% tax will be levied on income from all forms of Virtual Digital Assets including the cryptocurrencies, NFTs in addition to 1% TDS tax on crypto transactions.
As a result, interest in cryptocurrency investment among Indian investors has decreased.
The Indian Investors moved to the Foreign Crypto Exchanges. This moved the Finance Ministry of India to block the URLs of all the Foreign Crypto Exchanges which are not registered into the frameworks in India.
Now Kucoin has complied to this. Binance is said to be in the process of complying to this Indian law.
Even though the RBI has expressed its open stance to ban cryptocurrencies, the Indian Stock Market Regulator- Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has not expressed its position on the matter.
In this situation, it has been reported that for the first time, SEBI has expressed its position that cryptocurrency trading may be allowed under the supervision of regulatory bodies.
SEBI has given the green flag to allow cryptocurrency trading under the watchful eye of regulatory bodies.
This was a big ray of hope among the Indian Crypto Investors.
A committee has been set up by the finance ministry to formulate a policy on cryptocurrencies. Reuters media reported that the documents submitted by SEBI to the committee may allow cryptocurrency trading under the supervision of regulatory bodies.
SEBI has told the government committee that each regulatory body should oversee its responsibilities in matters related to cryptocurrencies. Also, SEBI said that a single regulatory body is not enough to control cryptocurrencies.
It has also been reported that the Reserve Bank has reiterated its firm stance to this government committee that cryptocurrencies should be banned.
So, it remains to be seen what the Indian Government is going to decide on cryptocurrency.
It is also quite interesting that India is undergoing the election now in 7 phases. We will all get to know the election results by June 4, 2024.
Hopefully, this will be in the hands of the new Indian Government!
