India’s tax department will be able to control cryptocurrency savings of citizens from 2026

The agency’s expanded powers are proposed in the new income tax bill

06.03.2025 - 14:45

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What’s new? The Indian tax department under the new income tax bill will be able to monitor digital activities of individuals, including social media accounts, emails and online transactions, from April 1, 2026. The initiative is designed to make the agency more effective in detecting tax evasion and undisclosed assets, including cryptocurrencies.

Material The Defiant

What else is known? According to clause 247 of the bill, tax inspectors will be able to access digital platforms if they suspect tax evasion.

This includes the ability to reset passwords and access codes to computer systems and virtual digital spaces if necessary.

The bill is designed to modernize tax investigations in line with the increasing digitalization of financial transactions.

Experts have expressed concern as the broad powers granted to tax officials by the new law could lead to abuse and potential violations of privacy rights.

The bill is currently being reviewed by a core committee, which will engage with stakeholders before finalizing it.

Coinbase is set to return to the Indian market after a year of absence

The exchange was launched in the country in April 2022 but was quickly shut down due to pressure from the RBI

In 2023 and 2024, India was ranked number one for cryptocurrency adoption by blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis.

Being the largest country in terms of population, it became the leader in terms of metrics such as on-chain value of cryptocurrencies received by centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges (CEX/DEX).

In August last year, the Indian Revenue Service demanded that Binance, the largest CEX, pay $86 million. It was alleged that the exchange failed to pay taxes on the fees it charged customers from July 2017 to March 2024.

This was the first time the tax department issued such a notice against a foreign crypto exchange.

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