India’s long-running cryptocurrency policy debate is returning to Parliament. The Standing Committee on Finance will hear oral evidence from the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) on September 16, 2026, as part of its ongoing study titled “A Study on Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) and Way Forward.”

The meeting is significant because it comes after months of consultations involving the Reserve Bank of India, tax authorities, financial regulators and crypto industry stakeholders. It also follows the cancellation of an earlier DEA hearing scheduled for August 27.

Finance Ministry Returns Before Parliament

According to the latest Standing Committee schedule, the Finance Committee will meet on September 16, 2026, to take oral evidence from representatives of the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Economic Affairs on the subject “A Study on Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) and Way Forward.”

This is not the first time the DEA has been called before the committee. An earlier meeting was scheduled for August 27, but was subsequently cancelled. EtherWorld covered that development in India Parliament Panel Cancels August 27 Crypto Hearing.

The rescheduling suggests that the parliamentary examination has continued rather than being abandoned. The broader review has already involved several major institutions.

On July 2, the committee heard evidence from the Reserve Bank of India and held discussions with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. EtherWorld covered the meeting in India’s RBI Rejects Crypto Legal Status Before Finance Panel, where the central bank maintained its cautious stance toward privately issued cryptocurrencies.

Before that, FIU-IND and the Central Board of Direct Taxes had also appeared before lawmakers as part of the same VDA study. The Finance Committee has therefore been approaching crypto as a cross-regulatory issue rather than simply a question for one agency.

India Already Regulates Crypto Without a Full Rulebook

India’s crypto market operates under an unusual framework. Cryptocurrency is neither completely outside regulation nor governed by a comprehensive sector-specific regime.

Instead, authorities have progressively built layers of taxation, anti-money-laundering rules, transaction reporting and enforcement around VDAs. The most visible layer remains taxation.

India introduced a specialised VDA tax regime in 2022, including a 30% tax on qualifying income from transfers of VDAs and a 1% TDS on many qualifying transfers. EtherWorld explained the original framework in Cryptocurrency Taxation in India.

Industry participants have repeatedly pushed for changes, particularly around TDS and the treatment of losses, but major relief has remained limited. EtherWorld’s No Tax Relief for Crypto in India's Budget 2026 detailed how the government continued its compliance-heavy approach during the latest Budget cycle.

In July, India issued detailed guidance implementing reporting requirements connected to the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework. As explained in India Issues New Crypto Tax Rules From 2026, covered exchanges, brokers and other crypto service providers face expanded obligations relating to customer identification, transaction classification and reporting.

A recent Chainalysis estimate placed India at roughly $19 billion in potentially taxable crypto activity during 2025, according to EtherWorld’s analysis in India Records $19B in Taxable Crypto Activity. Anti-money-laundering oversight has expanded alongside tax enforcement.

EtherWorld reported in 49 Crypto Exchanges Register With FIU in FY 2024–25 that dozens of domestic and offshore crypto platforms had registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit.

Authorities have also started paying greater attention to transactions taking place outside conventional exchange order books. In India FIU Targets Crypto OTC Trades Above $10K, EtherWorld examined additional scrutiny around larger over-the-counter transactions and beneficial ownership information.

What the Finance Committee Could Focus On

The official September 16 notice does not publish a detailed list of questions that lawmakers intend to ask the DEA. Any claim about specific questions should therefore be treated as speculation.

However, the direction of the committee’s previous meetings gives some indication of the policy areas likely to remain important. One major issue is legal classification.

The RBI has continued to draw that distinction. Its position before the committee earlier this year remained cautious, particularly around monetary sovereignty and financial stability.

Another issue is investor protection. India’s crypto ecosystem includes centralised exchanges, offshore platforms, self-custody wallets, OTC desks, stablecoins and decentralised protocols, but consumer safeguards are fragmented across different laws.

EtherWorld explored that possibility in Will India Regulate Crypto? What to Expect From Monsoon Session, including discussions around self-regulatory organisations and broader market oversight. Stablecoins are another increasingly difficult subject to ignore.

Dollar-backed assets such as USDT and USDC can intersect with crypto trading, remittances, cross-border payments and foreign-currency demand. Domestic stablecoin premiums have already illustrated how regulatory restrictions and liquidity conditions can create distortions. EtherWorld examined this relationship in RBI Defends Rupee: Will India’s Stablecoin Premium Rise?.

India continues to rank among the world’s largest crypto markets by users and activity. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently described India as crypto’s largest market by users, a claim examined in India Is Crypto’s Largest Market, Says Coinbase CEO.

The broader adoption story is not new either. EtherWorld has tracked India’s digital-asset growth for years, including in The State of Crypto Adoption in India. This creates a central tension for policymakers.

What Sept 16 Could Mean for India’s Crypto Policy

Parliamentary committee hearings are part of a broader evidence-gathering process. The committee can examine the issue, question ministries and regulators, prepare reports and make recommendations, but the meeting itself does not create new crypto law.

The Department of Economic Affairs plays an important role in shaping financial-sector and macroeconomic policy. Its testimony could therefore provide a clearer picture of how the government is balancing regulation, innovation, investor protection, tax compliance and financial-stability risks.

India’s position has been evolving for years. The government has moved from debating whether crypto should be prohibited toward building increasingly detailed systems for taxation, AML supervision and transaction reporting.

EtherWorld previously tracked that evolution in India’s Crypto Rulebook Is Under Review: What Triggered It & What Happens Next?. At the same time, political pressure for greater clarity has also grown.

Earlier this year, MP Raghav Chadha argued that taxing VDAs while leaving their broader legal framework uncertain creates an unsustainable policy gap, covered by EtherWorld in Indian MP Raghav Chadha Pushes Crypto & Blockchain Reforms. Strict rules may reduce certain risks, but prolonged uncertainty can encourage users and businesses to move activity toward offshore exchanges, private wallets or foreign jurisdictions.

But after months of consultations with the RBI, ICAI, FIU, CBDT, industry stakeholders and other institutions, the DEA’s appearance represents another important stage in Parliament’s attempt to determine what comes next. It will be whether policymakers begin moving toward clearer rules.

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Related Articles

• India Parliament Panel Cancels August 27 Crypto Hearing
• India’s RBI Rejects Crypto Legal Status Before Finance Panel
• India’s Crypto Rulebook Is Under Review: What Triggered It & What Happens Next?
• India Issues New Crypto Tax Rules From 2026
• Indian MP Raghav Chadha Pushes Crypto & Blockchain Reforms

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