India monitoring evolving crypto trading to ensure tax compliance, top tax official says
FILE PHOTO: Representation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency in this illustration taken September 10, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
NEW DELHI, Feb 5 : India is talking to cryptocurrency exchanges to assess evolving trading activity as it seeks oversight over newer crypto products, according to a top tax official.
India does not regulate cryptocurrencies, but global crypto exchanges such as Binance, Coin DCX, Coinbase and Zebpay operate in the country after registering with a government agency.
Asia's third-largest economy has imposed punitive taxes on gains from cryptocurrencies and the local central bank has repeatedly cautioned against the risks from crypto trading.
"Every day the profile of (cryptocurrency) transactions is changing. We need to understand new type and pattern of transactions as the technology evolves," Ravi Agrawal, chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
Presently, crypto derivatives are not taxed, and need to be studied, Agrawal said, adding the "government will tread carefully" before formulating any policy for such "sensitive transactions".
Global acceptance of cryptocurrencies has risen since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, with bitcoin, the world's largest crypto-asset by market capitalisation, rising to record highs in October last year. Bitcoin has come off since.
The Indian government has been of the view that its tax and other laws act as deterrents towards speculative crypto trading locally, Reuters reported last year.
New Delhi is leaning towards not legislating crypto regulation and would instead maintain partial oversight, fearing that bringing the assets into the mainstream could raise systemic risks, Reuters reported in September 2025.
