By
Chimamanda U. Martha
December 28th, 2023
The crypto industry in India could see a new entrant in the coming weeks as Xiaomi India, a branch of the mobile phone manufacturer in India, has indicated an interest in the space. This was revealed by the firm’s managing director in a recent interview with The Economic Times.
According to Manu Jain, the mobile phone maker is interested in the crypto space due to the level of buzz and interest that it has been able to generate in recent times. However, he cited the lack of regulatory clarity as the firm is still holding back from the space.
In his words, “We will want to wait for all the regulatory things. Of course, crypto is an area, which is extremely interesting, and is the biggest buzzword and is doing exceptionally well. But, we would want to understand more on the regulation side.”
This statement is not really surprising considering the fact that Xiaomi India is looking to diversify its product portfolio in the Asian country. Already, the firm launched e-commerce and loan services, apart from that, it has set eyes on delving deep into being a full blown lending platform that would be focused on payments, lending and insurance services. So, it is really unsurprising that the company is also eyeing an entrance into the burgeoning crypto space which is beginning to gain a foothold in the wider financial market.
It is important to note that India sits behind only China when it comes to purchasing Xiaomi’s products.
India’s Uncertain Crypto Regulation
One of the countries whose posture towards crypto remains unclear is the Indian government. The authorities in the country have severally attempted to curtail the growing influence of the space.
The central bank of the Asian country had first banned crypto transactions before this was overruled by the Supreme Court.
Just recently, the authorities also proposed a new regulation that would see foreign crypto exchanges in the country pay an additional 18% tax to continue with their crypto services within the country.
According to the report, “the foreign exchanges will be segregated under the new online data service providers and will be allowed to pay GST under the same category. The tax department of India is considering categorizing crypto exchanges under online information database access and retrieval (OIDAR) through which businesses can easily designate a specialized team that will be responsible to pay taxes on time.”
Despite this level of uncertainty, crypto adoption remains mainstream in the country as citizens continue to trade and hold digital assets.