India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman kept crypto tax rules unchanged in her address announcing the nation's budget for 2024-2025. The primary demand from India's crypto industry was to reduce the controversial tax-deducted-at-source (TDS) policy on crypto transactions from 1% to 0.01%. It made its representations to government officials with evidence from several sources, including a think tank study that provided evidence to support a reduction in the TDS.
The industry also asked the government to establish progressive taxes on gains instead of the flat 30% rate, and allowing losses to offset gains. They have also pushed for multi-agency regulation.
Notably, the government increased the long-term capital gains tax from 10% to 12.5% and short-term capital gains taxes from 15% to 20%. Whether this will have any impact on crypto trading is unclear. On the positive, abolishing the angel tax for all classes of investors will work towards bolstering the Indian startup ecosystem
