A number of cryptocurrency exchanges in India are disabling rupee deposits, particularly payments using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system. This followed a statement issued by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) regarding the usage of the UPI system by crypto exchanges.
Indian Exchanges Stop Offering Major Payment Options
Options to deposit Indian rupees at cryptocurrency exchanges are dwindling. A growing number of cryptocurrency exchanges have disabled INR deposits using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system, which is the most widely used retail payment method.
Crypto exchange Wazirx is not offering UPI support. The exchange tweeted Wednesday, “Currently, UPI is not available.” Coindcx is also not supporting payments by UPI, saying on Twitter Monday, “UPI is temporarily unavailable.”
Coinswitch Kuber went even further and reportedly suspended all INR deposit services Wednesday, including UPI and bank transfers via NEFT, RTGS, and IMPS. Coinswitch is a major cryptocurrency trading platform in India with over 15 million users.
The Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase, which recently launched in India, has disabled crypto purchases “due to an ongoing issue we’re experiencing with the UPI system.” The exchange further clarified: “Note that we don’t support another payment method to buy crypto at this time.”
Cryptocurrency exchanges stopped supporting UPI payments after the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) issued a statement that it is not aware of crypto exchanges using the UPI system. The NPCI statement followed Coinbase launching in India and advertising that users could easily deposit funds using UPI to buy cryptocurrencies.
A person familiar with the matter told Forkast publication that the NPCI was caught between a rock and a hard place when Coinbase claimed to launch with UPI support. “Once the launch of Coinbase happened in India and they announced the usage of UPI as a payment option, NPCI realized it needed to put a clarification out there,” the person said.
Earlier this month, popular payment service Mobikwik also stopped providing services to crypto exchanges.
Meanwhile, crypto trading volumes have been plummeting in India after the 30% tax on crypto income went into effect without allowing loss offsets or deductions on April 1. On July 1, another damaging tax, a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS), will start levying on crypto transactions.
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