The Indian government has appeared to attack crypto by placing a massive 30% tax rule on all crypto earnings. Rajya Sabha yesterday approved The Indian Finance Bill 2022 in the upper house of the Indian Parliament. This law will come into full effect from the 1st of April. The approval of this bill comes only one week after it was approved in the lower house of the Indian parliament.
India has been notoriously tight on crypto and this is further evidence that they see crypto as a real threat to the current financial system that the country has in place. This particular Finance Bill was discussed during a budget hearing in January. Furthermore, traders cannot tactfully offset trades and record their losses as every trading pair will be considered independently for the tax deduction.
The above is the part that indicates that this is a real attack on crypto even more than the threat of a 30% tax. Imagine running a business and losing money for making two months but the only month the government was interested in was the month where you made money. You could potentially be paying tax on a business losing money.
Naturally, this has left many Indian Crypto enthusiasts distraught and this will no doubt increase the illegal transactions made through crypto in that part of the world. Similar to betting in India, the regulatory bodies are extremely strict yet their gambling markets there are infamous and continue to play a big role in many recent scandals. For example when two of the most prominent teams were banned from the IPL for their parts in match-fixing.
India is a country ridden by poverty and corruption so naturally, the concept of Crypto has long been touted as a savior for the nation. What has sparked the most outrage among crypto lovers in India is the comparison to gambling. This tweet below signifies why.
Crypto will most likely continue to be very prominent in India but there is zero hope that it will be adopted by the mainstream authorities anytime soon. What you can bet on though is that there will be a drastic decrease in people declaring their crypto holdings in the country.
