# India

> India (FIU-IND · RBI · CBDT · Data Protection Board): No crypto statute, regulated through AML and tax. Region: Asia-Pacific. Restricts anonymity: Anonymity-enhancing assets or unattributed transfers are barred outright, or barred for regulated firms.

Part of the Soda Labs Privacy Hub regulation map, which reads the instruments
themselves rather than summarising the summaries: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation

## Key facts

- Entry type: Jurisdiction
- Region: Asia-Pacific
- Subject: No crypto statute, regulated through AML and tax
- Authority: FIU-IND · RBI · CBDT · Data Protection Board
- Stance on on-chain confidentiality: Restricts anonymity. Anonymity-enhancing assets or unattributed transfers are barred outright, or barred for regulated firms.
- Tags: PMLA reporting entity, 1% TDS, DPDP Act, offshore enforcement
- Canonical page: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-india

## What it actually says

India has no bespoke crypto statute and regulates the sector through anti-money-laundering law and tax instead. Providers became reporting entities under the PMLA in March 2023, and FIU-IND has enforced that perimeter hard against offshore exchanges, issuing show-cause notices to nine of them in December 2023 and following with penalties and URL blocking. We found no Indian instrument restricting privacy coins, so the pressure on confidentiality is indirect: a 1% withholding on transfers creates a transaction-level trail as a matter of tax design, and the 30% flat rate pushes activity onto fully identified venues. The retail e-rupee pilot is the counterweight, its stated design leaving small-value transactions untraced once issued to a wallet, with disclosure expected on larger sums.

## The instruments that matter

- **Ministry of Finance notification, 7 March 2023**: made virtual digital asset service providers reporting entities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, requiring FIU-IND registration, KYC and suspicious transaction reporting
- **30% tax and 1% TDS**: sections 115BBH and 194S of the Income Tax Act 1961; the withholding creates a transaction-level trail by design
- **Digital Personal Data Protection Rules 2025**: notified 13 November 2025, phasing in through the consent manager framework from 13 November 2026 to full compliance from 13 May 2027

## Sources

- [FIU-IND](https://fiuindia.gov.in/)
- [India chapter, Global Legal Insights](https://www.globallegalinsights.com/practice-areas/blockchain-cryptocurrency-laws-and-regulations/india/)

## Related entries

- [Japan](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-japan): Untraceability barred by self-regulation, now moving into ordinance
- [South Korea](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-south-korea): Identity-maximalist, and exporting the model
- [Thailand](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-thailand): Closed by whitelist, not by prohibition
- [Australia](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-australia): Travel rule without a threshold, no coin ban
- [Hong Kong SAR](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-hong-kong): Retail exclusion by liquidity gate, not by anonymity rule
- [Singapore](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-singapore): Regulates anonymity by risk assessment, not prohibition