• This year's Bharat Web3 Association was established in November.
• BWA is made up of employees from WazirX and CoinSwitch.
• India is still waiting on cryptocurrency-related laws.

The Bharat Web3 Association has once again criticised India's tax laws, which have frequently drawn criticism from Indian investors. The business group, which was established in November of this year, is said to have discussed and expressed concerns with India's crypto-related rules and judgement during a meeting with senior officials from the finance ministry. During the conversation, BWA representatives brought up how India's 'unfriendly' taxation of cryptocurrency gains is impeding the sector's overall expansion.

The BWA, which is made up of representatives from prominent Indian cryptocurrency companies like WazirX and CoinSwitch Kuber, wants to actively assist India in developing suitable legislation to regulate the virtual digital assets (VDA) market. The BWA wants to draw attention to the effects of current tax regulations, such as TDS, tax on income from VDAs, and the prohibition against carrying forward losses, on the larger industry and provide its input on appropriate modifications. 

Since April, all revenue generated through cryptocurrency transactions in India has been subject to a 30% tax; in addition, since July, a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) has been in effect for these transactions. Businesses in India connected to cryptocurrency activity are making very little to no money under this tax system. The average daily transaction volume on the Indian exchanges WazirX, CoinDCX, BitBNS, and Zebpay dropped to $5.6 million (approximately Rs. 44 crore) in August right after the tax rules come into effect. 

This volume was approximately $10 million up to June. A tea vendor from Bengaluru, India, who accepted cryptocurrency payments at his small kiosk, admitted in September that he had made no money from his crypto earnings. The young man in his 20s, Shubham Saini, claimed to have observed two to three cryptocurrency transactions daily.

For the time being, it is still unclear how the finance ministry will respond to the BWA's suggestion regarding taxes. The BWA has recommended that the finance ministry reconsider and rationalise the taxation of VDAs as one of its recommendations. The BWA has also requested that the finance ministry expedite the process of creating the crypto guidelines. 

The process of developing regulations for the cryptocurrency industry is still ongoing at the finance ministry. India assumed the G20 group of nations' leadership on December 1. Nirmala Sitharaman, India's finance minister, stated last year that one of India's top priorities is to collaborate with the other 19 G20 members to develop an international framework for cryptocurrencies.