India will start swapping information about cryptocurrency transactions with tax departments in other countries starting April 1, 2027.
The move comes as the government tightens its grip on digital currency dealings, particularly those happening through foreign platforms.
Officials are already laying the foundation for this information-sharing agreement, according to The Economic Times. Once India joins this global exchange system, the government intends to apply severe penalties to make sure that cryptocurrency platforms and intermediaries adhere to the new reporting rules.
Joining the global reporting framework
The data sharing will occur through something called the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, or CARF for short. This international standard is run by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Under this framework, countries must automatically send details about crypto transactions between their tax offices, much like what already happens with regular banking information.
India has agreed to join CARF and will begin both sending and receiving information come April 2027. An official told the newspaper that the technical setup for swapping this data is still being worked out and should be ready within a few months.
Penalties to enforce compliance from April 2026
Even though the international data swap won’t start until 2027, the government is using the 2026-27 budget year to ensure domestic reporting is up to scratch. A senior official explained that the main goal right now is to get India’s own reporting systems working properly before the international exchange kicks off.
To do this, the government has introduced new fines under Section 509 of the Income-tax Act. These penalties are meant to discourage platforms from breaking the rules.
Based on budget papers, crypto exchanges and middlemen who don’t submit the required statements about their users’ transactions will have to pay ₹200 every single day starting April 1, 2026. On top of that, if they report wrong information or don’t fix mistakes in their data, they’ll face a flat fine of ₹50,000.
These steps are designed to plug the “reporting gap” that has let transactions on overseas platforms stay hidden from tax collectors.
The preparation work now involves adopting the CARF XML Schema, which is a standardized technical format created by the OECD. This framework tells “Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers” (RCASPs) to gather detailed information, including users’ full names, addresses, tax identification numbers, and even transfers to “unhosted” or private wallets.
India ensures that its systems are compatible with almost 50 other nations that have joined, including key financial hubs like the UK, France, and Singapore, by finalizing this technical structure in the coming months. The “automatic” portion of the exchange depends on this technical alignment, which enables tax authorities to identify discrepancies between a taxpayer’s reported income and their actual global cryptocurrency activity.
Stricter user verification rules
On January 8, 2026, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) revised its Anti-Money Laundering and KYC standards in conjunction with these statutory amendments. To combat the use of VPNs and false identities, these regulations go beyond simple ID verification.
Under the updated requirements, platforms must now perform liveness detection, which means taking live video selfies when someone signs up. More importantly, they must also record the geolocation data (exact location coordinates) and IP addresses with timestamps for every new account.
This guarantees that the data being prepared for the 2027 global exchange is checked properly from the start. The changes significantly reduce the anonymity of cross-border transfers and bring India in line with the latest standards from the Financial Action Task Force.
