Investors Apprehensive that Crypto Tax Could Continue After Nirmala Sitharaman Returns as Finance Minister

After the completion of the Lok Sabha elections in the country, Narendra Modi has returned as the Prime Minister and Nirmala Sitharaman is again included in his cabinet as the Finance Minister. Sitharaman took charge of the Finance Ministry for the first time in 2019. The community associated with the crypto segment has mixed reactions to Sitharaman’s reappointment as Finance Minister.

of the finance ministry Cryptocurrencies There has been a tough stance on this. A tax of 30 percent has been applicable on the profit earned from crypto transactions in the country for almost two years. Apart from this, one percent tax deducted at source (TDS) is levied on the transfer of virtual digital assets (VDA). Dilip Chenoy, Chairman of Bharat Web3 Association (BWA), has congratulated the new government at the Center. He said that the Web3 Advisory Group will continue to work closely with the officials for the growth of this segment.

Crypto stakeholders were waiting for Sitharaman to amend the tax laws for this segment. However, Sitharaman did not announce any tax relief for this segment in the interim budget earlier this year. With Sitharaman becoming the Finance Minister again, the crypto community fears that no tax reforms will be made for digital assets.

In March this year, Sitharaman had said that cryptocurrencies are not considered or viewed as ‘currency’ in the country. On the question of change in the government’s attitude towards this sector after the recent boom in the crypto market, Sitharaman said, “The government has always believed that assets created on crypto can be used as assets for trading and many other things. We have not regulated them. These cannot be currencies and this is the position of the central government.” Earlier, capital market regulator SEBI had said that due to the ease of transactions, a large number of investors may turn to the crypto segment from the stock market. Rules are being made for this segment in some countries. This will curb the cases of scams related to crypto.