e-commerce
Ahead of budget 2026, KoinX highlights crypto tax disconnect
MUMBAI: As the Union Budget 2026 looms, India’s crypto tax regime is back in the spotlight, and not in a flattering way. A new report by KoinX suggests that for many investors, the taxman walked away with more cheer than their portfolios did.
According to India’s Crypto Tax Story 2025, nearly half of Indian crypto investors ended FY25 in the red. Yet many still paid taxes. The report draws on anonymised data from close to seven lakh Indian users and paints a picture of a system that taxes activity rather than outcomes.
At the heart of the debate is the 1 per cent tax deducted at source. While the levy has improved transaction reporting, KoinX argues it has also frozen capital by skimming every trade, profit or loss notwithstanding. The result is a growing dependence on refunds and a steady squeeze on liquidity.
In FY25 alone, total TDS collected across the crypto ecosystem stood at Rs 511.83 crore. KoinX users contributed Rs 130.16 crore of this amount, but their actual tax liability was only Rs 91.64 crore. That leaves an estimated Rs 38.52 crore locked up as excess deductions.
The burden is unevenly shared. Less than 5 per cent of traders accounted for 87 percent of total TDS collections. Thin margins mean even high volume traders often overpay upfront, while smaller investors feel the pinch in proportion.
KoinX founder and CEO Punit Agarwal said the solution is not scrapping TDS but resizing it. He advocates a uniform cut to 0.1 percent, arguing it would free trapped capital, reduce the drift to offshore platforms and keep compliance intact.
The bigger fault line, however, lies in capital gains taxation. The report shows a near perfect split in outcomes. Around 51 per cent of users posted net gains, while 49 percent booked net losses. Yet taxable gains ballooned to Rs 3,722 crore because losses cannot be set off.
As a result, investors who collectively lost Rs 1,178 crore still paid tax on Rs 180 crore of gains. In plain terms, many paid capital gains tax without any capital gains to show for it.
Agarwal calls this a break from first principles. Across asset classes, no net gain means no capital gains tax. Treating crypto differently, he warns, distorts behaviour and risks driving both traders and liquidity offshore.
As policymakers fine tune the Budget 2026 numbers, KoinX hopes its data offers a timely nudge. The message is simple. A tax system that moves with outcomes, not just volumes, could make crypto less taxing for everyone.
e-commerce
Visa report tracks rise of India’s affluent, experience-led spending
Affluent base doubles to 130 lakh, travel 58 per cent of elite spends.
MUMBAI: In India’s new luxury playbook, it’s less about owning more and more about living better. A new whitepaper by Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) maps a decisive shift in India’s affluent economy, where spending is becoming more intentional, experience-led, and closely tied to personal identity rather than pure income growth.
Titled India’s Affluent Economy 2025–2026, the report draws on a Visa-commissioned Yougov study and VisaNet data across travel, dining, retail and lifestyle categories. The headline number is hard to miss: individuals earning over Rs 10 lakh annually have nearly doubled from 69 lakh to 130 lakh, significantly expanding the country’s discretionary spending base.
But it’s not just about scale, it’s about behaviour. As consumers move up the affluence ladder, discretionary categories are taking a larger share of credit card spends, positioning cards as key enablers of premium, lifestyle-driven consumption.
The geography of wealth is shifting too. Affluence is no longer confined to metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, with cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur and Lucknow increasingly mirroring metro consumption patterns.
The report highlights a clear pivot from ownership to access. More than 50 per cent of affluent consumers now use cards for elite memberships, while 7 in 10 are drawn to limited-edition drops and curated collections. Increasingly, luxury is defined by seamless access be it concierge-led travel or curated dining where time saved is as valuable as money spent.
Spending patterns reinforce this shift. Among the ultra-elite, travel accounts for 58 per cent of discretionary spends, far outpacing retail and luxury combined at 28 per cent. Cross-border spending penetration stands at 63 per cent, signalling a growing global outlook among India’s affluent.
Closer home, indulgence is becoming routine. Nearly 4 in 5 affluent consumers dine at premium establishments at least three times a year, while 1 in 4 visit luxury venues more than five times annually. Dining spends are also climbing, with Rs 20,000 emerging as a new entry-level benchmark per experience and Rs 50,000 marking premium territory.
Retail, meanwhile, is becoming more selective. Three in four affluent consumers make a high-end purchase at least once a quarter, while one in four shops premium every two weeks. Luxury retail intensity is also rising, with 2 in 5 consumers spending over Rs 5 lakh annually, and a smaller but significant segment exceeding Rs 10 lakh.
Technology and wellness are carving out new roles in this ecosystem. High-end gadgets now see average spends of Rs 60,000 or more per purchase, while ultra-elite consumers are eight times more likely to visit spas and show five times higher engagement with cosmetic stores than non-affluent groups.
The broader takeaway is structural. Affluent consumers are no longer buying products, they are buying ecosystems. Integrated experiences across travel, dining, wellness and payments are becoming central to how this segment lives and spends.
As India’s affluent base expands beyond metros and aligns more closely with global consumption patterns, the real opportunity lies not just in size, but in speed. For brands, the message is clear: relevance will be defined by how early and how seamlessly, they plug into this evolving lifestyle economy.
