India begins taxing all profits by trading cryptocurrencies at the rate of 30 percent from April 1. While many small investors have offloaded their portfolios, some big ones say they will continue trading. Many of those also say they will hold on to their portfolios for years until taxes are lowered.
The trend seems to be that only those who can afford to pay the 30 percent tax or those who can keep their portfolios on hold for years will stay back in the Indian crypto community. Those with small holdings or no other means of income largely cashed out by the night of March 31.
On Twitter, an investor, Vivek Singh, said that the tax amount was huge, and he had offloaded his portfolio. "A profit of 30 percent is hard to come by for me and it's too much risk," his tweet read.
Many like him rued the steep taxes for exiting the crypto market. An investor named Vicky Kumar tweeted: "I am going to quit because I'm a small investor. My (financial) condition is bad, so I can't pay 30 percent tax and 1 percent TDS."
Earlier, Kshitij Purohit, lead of commodities and currencies, CapitalVia Global Research, had told CNBC-TV18: "Because taxes are greater than expected, investors are lowering their positions before April 1."
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Others like crypto collector Vivek Sinha said: "I earn Rs 1 lakh to Rs 8 lakh weekly. It is a very high tax but I am going to do it (continue trading in crypto) for my freedom. It's better than a job."
Another person who goes by Plan-D on Twitter said: "Won't quit but also won't sell. Holding is the way. No sale, no profit, no tax."
Another person named Nishant Nirmale tweeted: "Stopping my daily trade now. Only way is to hold going forward. Unfortunately will miss out on good opportunities.
Sarbashis Kahali, another collector, said he had uninstalled the crypto apps and would wait for a few years. He also hopes to cash out if the law changes. Some tweets suggested investors are willing to wait until the next election in hopes a new administration would listen to their calls to reduce the steep 30 percent tax.
Also Read: Quit India movement in crypto may accelerate
Another investor Suraj Pandey tweeted that he was quitting but only Indian crypto exchanges. "Sending my money to my friend who lives in Thailand. So, he bought crypto on my behalf in Binance. I can also trade using his Binance account in India."
Nishchal Shetty, the founder of WaxirX, tweeted that the crypto tax would lead to a flight to foreign exchanges, trade without KYC, grey markets, a large pool of tax defaulters, and huge TDS refunds. The community says that if high taxes continue, India will have to grapple with high tax evasion.
First Published: Mar 31, 2022 7:29 PM IST
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