Over 115 mn Indians have invested in cryptos: Survey

livemint.com:

New Delhi: Over 115 million Indians have invested in cryptocurrencies in the country so far, said an industry estimate by Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange, KuCoin. By 2030, the total value of investments in cryptocurrencies from India will cross $241 million (about ₹1,900 crore), said the survey, published on Tuesday.

Cryptocurrency investments in India have taken a hit, ever since the union government announced a 30% capital gains tax for all profits made through trading cryptocurrency tokens. The tax rate, which came into effect from 1 April, is applicable even if an individual’s earnings from crypto trades, which is classified as ‘virtual digital assets’, is below the non-taxed threshold of ₹2.5 lakh in earnings per year.

Subsequently, Indian users still trading cryptocurrencies also face a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) rate for any crypto token purchases, made on centralized crypto exchanges such as WazirX and CoinDCX, among others, above ₹10,000.

Ever since the new tax regimes on crypto trading came into place, trading volumes on popular Indian exchanges took a clear dip. According to data from cryptocurrency market research firm Crebaco Global, the daily average trading volume on WazirX dipped by 48% sequentially — down from $47.18 million in March this year, to $24.39 million in April.

On CoinDCX, the daily average trading volume dropped 28% sequentially from $13.11 million in March to $9.38 million in April.

Trading volumes took an even bigger hit once the TDS rule on crypto trading came into effect from 1 July. On WazirX and CoinDCX, the daily average trading volumes dipped by 71% and 77% respectively, down from $9.68 million per day in June to $2.81 million on WazirX in July, and $7.79 million per