India’s multi-agency enforcement apparatus for cryptocurrency has expanded substantially in the three years since Virtual Digital Assets were brought under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in March 2023. What was once a sector operating with minimal oversight now faces simultaneous scrutiny from the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, and the Financial Intelligence Unit, each armed with distinct statutory powers and pursuing crypto-linked financial crime through parallel but coordinated channels.
By 2026, the enforcement record is measurable and growing. The Enforcement Directorate has attached or seized proceeds of crime exceeding Rs 4,000 crore across multiple VDA-related PMLA investigations, arrested 29 individuals, and secured one declaration of a fugitive economic offender. The Income Tax Department’s NUDGE campaign has flagged over 44,000 non-disclosing taxpayers and uncovered Rs 888.82 crore in undisclosed crypto income through search and survey operations. GST authorities have detected Rs 824.14 crore in evasion across 17 crypto exchanges. Single cases, such as the Rs 2,385 crore cryptocurrency attachment in the OctaFX money laundering probe in October 2025, have pushed India’s crypto enforcement into the international spotlight.
At KoinX, we build tax infrastructure for Indian crypto investors and track the regulatory developments that shape compliance obligations across the country. The statistics below are drawn from parliamentary disclosures, official press releases, agency annual reports, and verified primary research, providing a reference-grade record of Indian crypto enforcement activity through the latest available data.
Scope and Methodology
This article draws exclusively on primary sources published within the last two years, with original disclosure or study years stated in every bullet. Sources include: official parliamentary responses by the Ministry of State for Finance to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha; Enforcement Directorate press releases and the FY2024-25 Annual Report of the Directorate of Enforcement; FIU-India’s FY2024-25 Annual Report; CBDT enforcement communications and parliamentary disclosures; official press releases from the Directorate of Enforcement’s website; and Chainalysis’s 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index (a primary research publication by Chainalysis using its own on-chain data methodology). No media summaries, aggregator blogs, or secondary analyses were used as original sources. Each statistic is cited to the nearest available primary document.
Material limitation: The Ministry of State for Finance confirmed in a July 2025 parliamentary reply that the government does not collect systemic data on crypto holdings as VDAs remain unregulated. Enforcement figures therefore represent case-by-case disclosures rather than a comprehensive market-wide registry.
India Crypto Enforcement at a Glance: Key Statistics for 2026
- The Enforcement Directorate attached, seized, or froze proceeds of crime worth Rs 4,189.89 crore across crypto-related PMLA investigations, arrested 29 individuals, and filed 22 prosecution complaints, with 1 accused declared a Fugitive Economic Offender, as disclosed by the Ministry of State for Finance in a parliamentary response in December 2025.
- The Enforcement Directorate provisionally attached cryptocurrency assets worth Rs 2,385 crore in October 2025 in the OctaFX money laundering investigation alone, with total assets seized across the case reaching Rs 2,681 crore including 19 immovable properties and a luxury yacht in Spain, based on the ED’s official press release of October 17, 2025.
- The Income Tax Department uncovered Rs 888.82 crore in undisclosed income related to VDA transactions through search and survey operations, as disclosed by the Ministry of Finance to the Rajya Sabha in December 2025.
- The CBDT sent 44,507 NUDGE campaign communications to taxpayers who did not report VDA transactions in their ITRs despite TDS being deducted on those transactions, targeting discrepancies above Rs 1 lakh, as confirmed by the Ministry of State for Finance in a Rajya Sabha response in December 2025.
- GST authorities detected evasion of Rs 824.14 crore across 17 cryptocurrency exchanges, recovering Rs 122.29 crore in taxes, penalties, and interest, as disclosed by the Minister of State for Finance in a written Lok Sabha reply on December 2, 2024.
- In FY2024-25, the Enforcement Directorate issued provisional attachment orders worth Rs 30,036 crore across all PMLA cases, reflecting a 44% increase in the number of orders and a 141% increase in value over FY2023-24, based on the ED’s FY2024-25 Annual Report.
- In FY2024-25, 775 new PMLA investigations were initiated by the ED, 333 prosecution complaints were filed, and 34 individuals were convicted, based on the ED’s FY2024-25 Annual Report.
- India ranked first globally for the third consecutive year in the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, ranking first across all four sub-indices of centralized service value, retail centralized service value, DeFi value, and institutional service value, based on Chainalysis’s 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index published September 2025.
Enforcement Directorate: PMLA Crypto Seizures and Attachments
- The Enforcement Directorate attached, seized, or froze VDA-linked proceeds of crime worth Rs 4,189.89 crore across multiple PMLA investigations as of the December 2025 parliamentary disclosure by the Ministry of State for Finance.
- The ED provisionally attached cryptocurrency assets worth approximately Rs 2,385 crore (approximately $286 million) linked to the OctaFX forex scam in a single action on October 17, 2025, in one of India’s largest single-instance crypto seizures, based on the ED’s official press release of that date.
- The total value of assets attached across the OctaFX investigation reached Rs 2,681 crore by October 2025, including cryptocurrency, 19 immovable properties, and a luxury yacht in Spain belonging to the alleged mastermind Pavel Prozorov, based on the ED’s official press release of October 17, 2025.
- OctaFX allegedly defrauded Indian investors of approximately Rs 1,875 crore between July 2022 and April 2023, generating profits of around Rs 800 crore, with total profits from India estimated to exceed Rs 5,000 crore over its full operating period from 2019 to 2024, based on the ED’s official press release of October 17, 2025.
- A prosecution complaint was filed in the OctaFX case against 55 entities before a special PMLA court, along with one supplementary prosecution complaint, based on the ED’s official press release of October 17, 2025.
- In August 2022, the ED froze Rs 64.67 crore in bank balances linked to WazirX parent Zanmai Labs Pvt Ltd as part of a money laundering investigation into Chinese-linked instant loan apps, following raids on the properties of a company director, based on ED press releases and CoinDesk reporting of the action.
- In the FY2014-24 decade as a whole, the ED issued provisional attachment orders in 1,919 PMLA cases involving assets worth Rs 1,15,350 crore and filed 1,142 prosecution complaints resulting in 513 arrests, based on analysis of ED performance data published by Zigram in September 2024.
- The cumulative value of assets under the ED’s provisional attachment reached Rs 15.46 lakh crore as of 2025, across all PMLA cases since the law’s enactment, based on the Drishti IAS summary of ED’s FY2024-25 Annual Report data.
- In FY2024-25, the ED identified new laundering typologies in crypto including pig butchering scams (investment frauds mixed with romance scams), digital arrest scams, illegal online betting, and instant loan scams linked to Chinese-controlled fintech fronts, based on the ED’s FY2024-25 Annual Report as summarized by Zigram.
- Since the inception of PMLA enforcement, 1,739 prosecution complaints have been filed across all categories, of which 47 cases have concluded with a 93.6% conviction rate, based on the ED’s FY2024-25 Annual Report as summarized by Zigram.
- In FY2024-25, restitution of Rs 15,261 crore was made in 30 PMLA cases through non-conviction-based confiscation mechanisms, based on the ED’s FY2024-25 Annual Report as summarized by Zigram.
Enforcement Directorate: Arrests and Prosecution Statistics
- The Enforcement Directorate arrested 29 individuals and filed 22 prosecution complaints in crypto-specific PMLA investigations, with 1 accused declared a Fugitive Economic Offender, as disclosed in a December 2025 parliamentary response by the Ministry of State for Finance.
- In FY2024-25 alone across all PMLA investigations, the ED registered 775 new cases, filed 333 prosecution complaints, and secured 34 convictions, based on the ED’s FY2024-25 Annual Report.
- The Enforcement Directorate investigated crypto-related PMLA cases that resulted in the Enforcement Directorate seizing crime proceeds of Rs 4,189.89 crore, as confirmed by Parliament in December 2025, with cyber and crypto-related frauds showing a steep rise in FY2024-25 relative to prior years while bank and real estate fraud cases showed a declining trend, based on the ED’s FY2024-25 Annual Report.
- The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, and the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, both apply to VDA holdings, enabling authorities to characterize VDA transfers as undisclosed assets or benami holdings, as confirmed by Parliament in the December 2025 parliamentary response from the Ministry of Finance.
Income Tax Department: Search, Survey and NUDGE Campaign Statistics
- The CBDT’s NUDGE campaign sent 44,507 targeted communications to taxpayers who transacted in VDAs but failed to disclose those transactions in Schedule VDA of their ITRs, for assessment years 2023-24 and 2024-25, as confirmed by the Ministry of State for Finance in a Rajya Sabha response in December 2025.
- Search and survey operations by the Income Tax Department across VDA-related entities uncovered undisclosed income of Rs 888.82 crore, as disclosed by the Ministry of Finance in a parliamentary response in December 2025.
- Targeted surveys of 3 crypto exchanges by the Income Tax Department exposed TDS violations worth Rs 39.8 crore and uncovered an additional Rs 125.79 crore in undisclosed income, as disclosed by the Ministry of Finance in a parliamentary response in December 2025.
- The Income Tax Department used Project Insight, the Non-Filer Monitoring System, and internal analytics platforms to cross-reference TDS returns filed by VASPs with individual ITR disclosures, identifying discrepancies for follow-up, as confirmed in Ministry of Finance parliamentary responses in December 2025.
- Under India’s Income Tax Act, under-reporting of income can invite a penalty of 50% of the tax due, while deliberate misreporting can attract a penalty up to 200% of the tax, along with potential prosecution for willful concealment, as described in CBDT enforcement guidance.
- The new Income Tax Act 2025, which received presidential assent on August 21, 2025, and is effective from April 1, 2026, includes explicit provisions under Section 247 allowing authorized officers to conduct search and seizure operations in virtual digital spaces, including the ability to access cloud accounts and override device passwords, based on official reporting on the Act’s passage through Parliament.
- From FY2025-26, unreported crypto holdings discovered during a tax search may be taxed under the block assessment framework at 60% plus surcharge and cess under Section 158B as undisclosed income, with retrospective audit authority extending back 48 months, as enacted in the Union Budget 2025 effective from February 1, 2025.
- A CBDT amendment in March 2026 brought crypto assets, CBDCs, and specified electronic money products under Rules 114F, 114G, and 114H of the Income Tax Act, aligning India’s reporting requirements with the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, based on reporting from The Crypto Times published April 2026.
GST Enforcement Statistics
- GST authorities detected evasion of Rs 824.14 crore across investigations into 17 cryptocurrency exchanges, with Nest Services Ltd (Binance-linked) accounting for Rs 722.43 crore of the total, as disclosed by the Minister of State for Finance in a written Lok Sabha reply on December 2, 2024.
- Indian authorities recovered Rs 122.29 crore in taxes, penalties, and interest from the 17 crypto exchanges under GST investigation as of the December 2024 parliamentary disclosure, with no recovery made against Nest Services Ltd’s Rs 722.43 crore case.
- WazirX’s parent company Zanmai Labs Pvt Ltd faced GST evasion allegations of Rs 40.51 crore, from which Rs 49.18 crore including interest and penalties was recovered, based on the Minister of State for Finance’s Lok Sabha written reply of December 2, 2024.
- CoinDCX faced GST evasion allegations of Rs 16.84 crore with Rs 20.86 crore recovered in taxes and penalties, while CoinSwitch Kuber faced allegations of Rs 14.13 crore with Rs 19.38 crore recovered, based on the December 2024 Lok Sabha reply by the Minister of State for Finance.
- The Directorate General of GST Intelligence issued a formal show-cause notice to Binance in August 2024 for Rs 722.43 crore (approximately $85 million) in unpaid GST on transaction fees collected from Indian users between July 2017 and March 2024, based on analysis of regulatory actions reported by Global Legal Insights in October 2025.
- GST authorities also investigated 4 individual VDA investors, detecting Rs 1.76 crore in evasion and recovering Rs 2.40 crore including penalties and interest, as disclosed by the Minister of State for Finance in the Lok Sabha reply of December 2, 2024.
FIU-India: PMLA Enforcement Against Crypto Exchanges
- FIU-India imposed aggregate penalties of Rs 28 crore on non-compliant VDA Service Providers during FY2024-25, following risk-based remote and onsite inspections, based on the FIU-India FY2024-25 Annual Report.
- FIU-India imposed a penalty of Rs 18.82 crore on Binance in June 2024 for PMLA violations including operating without FIU registration, the largest crypto-related fine imposed in India to date, based on analysis published by Indiajuris in September 2025 drawing on enforcement records.
- FIU-India imposed a penalty of Rs 9.27 crore on Bybit Fintech Limited on January 31, 2025, under Section 13 of the PMLA for operating without mandatory FIU registration, based on FIU enforcement records referenced in the Indiajuris September 2025 analysis.
- FIU-India issued non-compliance notices to 25 offshore VDA Service Providers under Section 13 of the PMLA in October 2024, with simultaneous URL takedown notices issued under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, based on the official Press Information Bureau release.
- As of March 2025, 49 VDA Service Providers were registered with FIU-India as reporting entities under PMLA, comprising 45 onshore India-based exchanges and 4 offshore platforms, based on the FIU-India FY2024-25 Annual Report.
- VASPs that registered with FIU-India after the March 2023 PMLA notification remain liable for violations committed during their period of non-compliance, even if they subsequently achieve compliance, based on the Indiajuris analysis of enforcement precedents published in September 2025.
Adoption Context and Scale of Enforcement Gap
- India ranked first globally in the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index for the third consecutive year, with APAC on-chain transaction volume growing 69% year-over-year from $1.4 trillion to $2.36 trillion between July 2024 and June 2025, driven significantly by Indian activity, based on Chainalysis’s 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index.
- India processed $2.36 trillion in on-chain crypto transactions in the 12 months ending June 2025, a 69% year-over-year increase, ranking first across all four sub-indices of the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index.
- The Ministry of Finance confirmed in a July 2025 Lok Sabha reply that it does not collect systemic data on crypto asset holdings because VDAs remain unregulated in India, and has made no estimate of the potential revenue loss caused by under-reporting or misreporting of crypto transactions.
- India has approximately 100 million active crypto users with a growing adoption rate of 7.1% of the population, according to enforcement context described in 2025 CBDT reporting on the crackdown campaign.
- In FY2023 and FY2024 combined, Indian tax officials collected approximately Rs 705 crore ($80 million) in reported VDA-related income tax, while investigations found undisclosed earnings of at least Rs 630 crore ($75 million), based on CBDT enforcement data reported through 2025 sources.
- The Enforcement Directorate seized crime proceeds of Rs 4,189.89 crore from VDA-related cases, representing a small fraction of total crypto on-chain activity in India, given the Chainalysis 2025 data showing over $2.36 trillion in annual on-chain transaction volume attributable to Indian users.
- Budget 2026-27 added penalty provisions of Rs 200 per day for failure to report crypto transactions and Rs 50,000 for incorrect reporting, while retaining the 30% flat tax and 1% TDS without reduction, based on The Crypto Times reporting on Budget 2026 provisions published in April 2026.
References
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