The total number of equity investors in India as of October 21 stood at 7.4 cr (both NSDL & CDSL combined) with total investment of Rs 274 lakh crore.
The total no of mutual fund investors in India as of October 21 stood at 11.4 cr with total AUM of Rs 37.3 lakh crore. Total number of crypto investors in India stands few crores with total investment of Rs 6 lakh crore as per the advertisement released by a group of 13-members including Internet and Mobile Association of India, Blockchain& Crypto Assets Council’s (BACC), crypto exchanges and others that are part of crypto investment ecosystem in India.
Cryptocurrency is getting widely adopted around the world, as the high rate of returns is luring many investors towards investment in crypto coins, despite it being highly volatile and risky, said Hemang Jani, Head – Equity Strategy, Broking & Distribution, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. (MOFSL). As per Triple A, a leading cryptocurrency payments company, global crypto ownership rate currently stands at 3.9 percent, with over 30 crore crypto users worldwide and over 18,000 businesses already accepting cryptocurrency payments.
Even in India, cryptocurrencies has gained prominence ever since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ban was lifted in March 2020. India now has 15 home-grown crypto currency exchange platforms, consisting of more than 10 crore investors.
According to broker discovery and comparison platform BrokerChooser, the total number of crypto owners in India now stands at 10.07 crore, which puts it ahead of every other country in the world. US stands at second position with number of crypto owners at 2.7 crore, followed by Russia (1.7 crore) and Nigeria (1.3 crore).
In comparison, the number of stock investors registered with the BSE/NSE in India has risen to 7.4 crore at present while for Mutual Funds it stands at 11.4 crore.
In terms of share of crypto investors as a percentage of population, India stands at 5th position at 7.3 percent vs Ukraine (12.7 percent), Russia (11.9 percent), Kenya (8.5 percent) and US (8.3 percent).
CoinSwitchKuber and WazirX are two popular crypto exchanges in India with 11mn/8.3mn users respectively, surpassing even India’s largest stockbroker Zerodha which has 7mn clients.
Crypto investment is not only limited to metros but is garnering a lot of interest from young population in Tier II/Tier III cities. According to crypto research and intelligence business CREBACO, Indian crypto investments have increased to over $10 billion from $0.9 billion in April’20, as crypto markets touched all-time highs.
The government had proposed a Bill banning all private cryptocurrencies in February ’21 but it was not tabled later.
Currently, the Government is set to introduce ‘The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021’ in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning 29 November for consideration and passing.
The Bill aims to create a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the RBI. It also seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.
Currently, there is lot of uncertainty but government is making efforts to soon put out proper regulation with regards to crypto investment as it is quickly getting widespread across India.
