India Set to Revisit Crypto Rules as Parliamentary Committee Reviews VDA Framework

The Indian government is revisiting its crypto rules as part of an ongoing study on Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs). The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has scheduled a hearing for September 16, 2026, where it will question the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) about India's regulatory roadmap for VDAs. This review comes after a series of consultations with various stakeholders, including testimonies from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

The current framework combines taxation and anti-money laundering (AML) obligations with a less comprehensive market-structure regime for areas such as exchange oversight, custody, and investor redress. The 30% tax on gains from VDA transfers and 1% Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on specified crypto transactions remain in force.

The committee is examining the regulatory grey area surrounding VDAs, which fall outside the technology-neutral definition of securities and derivatives. Industry groups have argued that offshore migration can reduce domestic trading activity captured by India's TDS framework, with estimates suggesting between 73% to 91.5% of Indian crypto trading volumes occurring on offshore platforms.