Indian Enforcement Directorate Cracks Down: $465 Million in Crypto Proceeds Seized, 44,057 People Receive Tax Notices

[Chain News] India’s enforcement crackdown is pretty intense this time. On Monday, news broke in parliament that the Enforcement Directorate seized 41.9 billion rupees in illicit funds from crypto cases under anti-money laundering laws, equivalent to about $465 million. Even more hardcore, one of the defendants was directly listed as an “economic fugitive.”

That’s not all. The tax department uncovered even more—during raids, they found 8.8882 billion rupees (about $100 million) in crypto trading income that hadn’t been reported for tax purposes. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary disclosed in the Lok Sabha that tax authorities sent notices to 44,057 crypto users who either traded or invested in virtual digital assets, but didn’t fill out the VDA section in their tax returns.

The Enforcement Directorate’s achievements are also impressive: they investigated a slew of crypto-related cases, seized and froze a total of 41.8989 billion rupees, arrested 29 people, and filed 22 charge sheets. One individual has already been declared an economic fugitive—a status that’s no joking matter.

Chaudhary also emphasized that crypto assets are currently unregulated in India. The government is working on capacity building to strengthen monitoring and investigation of virtual digital asset transactions. Judging by this, India’s compliance requirements for the crypto market are only going to get stricter.