India Trains Around 3,000 Officials in Cryptocurrency Forensics and Investigation

India offered officials from various cybercrime and police departments training in cryptocurrency forensics and investigation during the financial year 2022–2023.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)’s annual report, the training is aimed to equip law enforcement personnel with the necessary skills to combat cryptocurrency-related crimes.

Under the Narcotics Control Bureau, which serves as India’s central law enforcement and intelligence agency, 141 officers received training specifically focused on darknet investigations, cryptocurrencies, and workshops on digital footprints, intelligence gathering from open sources, and social media analysis.

“NCB has developed a Core Training Module along with 05 separate training modules for different ranks such as Dy. SPs and above, IOs/JIOs (Inspectors/Sub-Inspectors), SPP/PPs, other ranks as well as officials of civil departments to have standardization in the training on drug law enforcement,” the report said.

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre also played a significant role by training more than 2,800 cyber police officials in the field of crypto forensics and investigations.

The training included new technologies such as anonymization networks and the investigation of mobile application misuse in cyberspace.

India Explores Blockchain Use in Public Sector

As India prepares to tackle potential crypto-related crimes amid the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies, the nation is simultaneously exploring mainstream use cases for blockchain technology.

Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), a state-run oil and gas company, recently launched a blockchain system to automate the verification of purchase orders (POs).

Through a partnership with Zupple Labs, a blockchain software firm, HPCL integrated blockchain-based digital credentialing technology into its purchase order system.

The move aims to enhance efficiency and transparency in the procurement process, demonstrating the broader applications of blockchain beyond cryptocurrencies.

In February, India’s government unveiled its crypto tax plans, which included a proposal to tax gains from crypto transfers at a 30% rate.

Moreover, any buyer of virtual digital assets would have to pay a 1% tax deduction at source (TDS).

However, after the country’s controversial tax policy came into effect, it adversely impacted trading volumes on local cryptocurrency exchanges.

In fact, Indian crypto traders moved more than $3.8 billion in trading volume to international crypto exchanges since February 2022.

“Of this, cumulative volume of $3,055 million was offshored within six months of the current financial year,” a research study by Esya Centre, a Delhi-based technology policy think tank, said.

The report added that domestic exchanges lost 81% of their trading volumes in four months after the imposition of the much-debated 1% TDS rule.

Furthermore, “an estimated 17 lakh users switched” from domestic crypto exchanges to foreign counterparts over the past year.

Just recently, it was revealed that the implementation of 1% tax resulted in the loss of potential revenues of approximately $420 million (Rs. 3,493 crores) for Indian government, compared to the collected revenue of just $30 million (Rs. 258 crores).