Bitcoin in India? Not for a LOOOOONG time.

[FerrariF50]

The OP is right in his assessment.
There are some traders who buy/sell bitcoin.
Bitcoin's actual usage in commerce is currently negligible.

Bitcoin in real life is even lower. Low education and poverty restricts access to the internet. Making it more unlikely that they have heard of it

[USB-S]

The OP is right in his assessment.
There are some traders who buy/sell bitcoin.
Bitcoin's actual usage in commerce is currently negligible.

Bitcoin in real life is even lower. Low education and poverty restricts access to the internet. Making it more unlikely that they have heard of it

If we'd get at least one broken economy going with bitcoin, then the rest would follow with ease. I think that Kenya is the leading target for us just because the wide popularity of mpesa and its similarities to bitcoins.
However we'd need proper internet access to the areas where poverty is high. Maybe by connecting those places to the rest of the world would give them a lot of knowledge and information. There are a lot of pretty good projects going that try to accomplish just that.

[bryant.coleman]

Bitcoin in real life is even lower. Low education and poverty restricts access to the internet. Making it more unlikely that they have heard of it

When I visited India a few months ago, I was really surprised at the expanding internet usage there, especially among the lower middle class population. Smartphones are quite popular there, and a lot of people use them to access social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These people might be poor, but they use internet quite frequently.

[OROBTC]

...

Some more comments re India and Nepal FWIW.

1)  I found Nepal to be a very positive place.  Good food, very friendly people.  YES, they are taking a horrible bearing from India re blocking fuel imports to Nepal.  Apparently the reasons are complicated, but it sure looks to me that India is much acting like IMPERIALISTS (oh the irony of that).  But, again, I do not know all the facts.

2)  A couple of you above mentioned that India looks like they will become a major power, perhaps a superpower.  I agree.  New Delhi and its airport were quite impressive.  Their population is growing (unlike China, which I visited a long 14 years or so ago).  I think that the Indian population (as a whole -- also mentioned above is the idea of "many Indias" as it it is so varied) is catching on to the ideas of freedom, education, etc.  But there is a LONG way to go.  Our impressive Indian Tour Guide, for example, had his own marriage arranged...  Nonetheless, they have two delightful children.

3)  India is a hard trip for (most) Americans.  You must be open-minded and "ready for anything".  Get your vaccinations!  Even so you will almost surely get sick at some point, but at least you will not get Hepatitis A, Typhoid Fever, Tetanus and other truly horrible diseases...

4)  Both of our guides were extremely useful, competent and nice people.  Anyone going to India or Nepal, PM me (or ask via email, there at my Profile here).

5)  NONE of the Indians nor Nepalis that I ran into knew anything about Bitcoin, but I was a TOURIST (with my wife).  If wither or both countries start catching on to BTC in a big way, that would make the lives of tourists better (less risk of losing money to theft) and they themselves (not having to deal with onerous currency controls).

6)  Bryant is quite correct about SO MANY using cellphones, just like the young here.  Just in of itself that implies future-oriented thinking, maybe as the generations come along they will indeed surprise the world re progressing into becoming a mighty country.  But, there are a LOT of ways things could go wrong too.

[peteycamey]

same here in Turkey. not many people know about it.

[FerrariF50]

Bitcoin in real life is even lower. Low education and poverty restricts access to the internet. Making it more unlikely that they have heard of it

When I visited India a few months ago, I was really surprised at the expanding internet usage there, especially among the lower middle class population. Smartphones are quite popular there, and a lot of people use them to access social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These people might be poor, but they use internet quite frequently.

Oh I really didnt realised. Always had the impression that internet access was rather low

[chennan]

Hmm, I have been thinking recently (and please tell me if this is nonsense) about the possibilities in starting a "charity" type of program for places like India. My SO travels out there a lot for programs that help the poorer areas of places like in India and Africa, and she keeps telling me how talented they are in producing goods such as clothes, baskets, etc for extremely cheap. I was thinking that maybe if someone were to introduce them to the Internet in general and find some way/someone to market the villages goods they produce, then it would help them earn more revenue and prosper just a little bit more in their life. This could be paid in Bitcoin which could be easily converted to their currency, but they would need to tell them how much of an investment Bitcoin is.

I know it's a real long shot, but I think they would be for it if it broadens their market to sell to more people. Even though poor countries hardly have electricity, Kenya is making big strides with mobile payments like m-pesa to help business move forward, so why not make it global for people in those areas which could let them earn more money by using Bitcoin?

[bryant.coleman]

Oh I really didnt realised. Always had the impression that internet access was rather low

They are only using the useless social network sites such as Facebook. So you can argue that the internet access / usage is rather low. They are not doing anything productive at all. Just posting their pics and sharing it with their friends. The number of broadband users is quite low. And the quality of these broadband connections are absolutely horrible.

[polynesia]

Oh I really didnt realised. Always had the impression that internet access was rather low

They are only using the useless social network sites such as Facebook. So you can argue that the internet access / usage is rather low. They are not doing anything productive at all. Just posting their pics and sharing it with their friends. The number of broadband users is quite low. And the quality of these broadband connections are absolutely horrible.

Facebook and WhatsApp are the most popular apps used in India, and I don't expect this to change.
People have started using mobile phones extensively for business (compared to say 5 years ago) and I expect them to graduate to using the internet on their phones. Unavailability of many vernacular apps is an issue.

[GODLIKE]

...

We are back from a long trip to India and Nepal.  If wanted I can share pics with those interested.

I see that "not much" that I can see has happened in "Bitcoinistan" since I left.

I will mention that NO ONE has heard of Bitcoin save ONE person in our tour group (18 of us total).  

Bitcoin may be BIG in China, but not in India (certainly not Nepal, now under a fuel embargo by India -- complicated).

India IS progressing faster than I woulod have guessed, they have seen the light re infrastructure (and other things to advance, you know, things like economic freedom, etc.) and of course a relatively tranquil democracy.  But, BTC ain't ready for primetime there.  Pity.

Populations that need Bitcoin more are the same who have more difficulties in adopting it, for several reasons:
first, illiteracy, doesn't allow them to open their mind and accept that money can come in different configuration than dirty paper and coins,
second, poorness, not everybody can have a smartphone or a pc, they have other priorities, like eating
But things are moving in India as well as in Africa, and when the Bitcoin Bang will begin, mainstream adoption in poor countries will happen not so later than in the rich ones.

[HarHarHar9965]

I am a regular visitor to India (especially to Delhi, and Kerala). Although there are not many shops which accept BTC in these regions, you can easily convert your BTC to fiat cash (INR), at low premiums. In Delhi itself, there are dozens, if not hundreds of traders who trade Bitcoins for fiat cash. Use Localbitcoins to get in touch with these guys.

Yup Even I have some colleagues who is from India, So many people not aware of bitcoins. But who are all working in bitcoin they are very clever and they are doing trading also through localbitcoins.com and btcindia. Except Amazon India and Ebay India  none of the Online shops are accepting as I got info from my friend.

[n2004al]

...

We are back from a long trip to India and Nepal.  If wanted I can share pics with those interested.

I see that "not much" that I can see has happened in "Bitcoinistan" since I left.

I will mention that NO ONE has heard of Bitcoin save ONE person in our tour group (18 of us total). 

Bitcoin may be BIG in China, but not in India (certainly not Nepal, now under a fuel embargo by India -- complicated).

India IS progressing faster than I woulod have guessed, they have seen the light re infrastructure (and other things to advance, you know, things like economic freedom, etc.) and of course a relatively tranquil democracy.  But, BTC ain't ready for primetime there.  Pity.

I don't share the same opinion with you about India and its citizens. I don't know from which country you are but I live in Europe. Indians are very diverse people compared to the Europeans. And maybe even from to many other peoples. They are very patient (until the acceptance of suffering as a normal way of life) and this make them very precious people. This infinite patience and obedience make them maybe to repulse the new things - even immediately (they may need not few time to accept the new thing because of the above personality), but slowly they learn and understand what is good and is necessary. Then the same attribute which make them to not accept (immediately or not) the new thing become a "terrible weapon" in their hands and heads. No one and nothing cannot change more this their acceptation. So it will be even with bitcoin. They will understand some day what is bitcoin and what represent it. Such day India will become a second China (in which only two years ago no one or very few people knew bitcoin). This situation it is verified in USA when to many very high important workplaces are fulfilled not from Americans or Chineses but from Indians. The last discovered what is important and are feared competitors with the most brilliant minds of all the world (which mainly meet each other mostly in United States).

[Siatald]

I am a regular visitor to India (especially to Delhi, and Kerala). Although there are not many shops which accept BTC in these regions, you can easily convert your BTC to fiat cash (INR), at low premiums. In Delhi itself, there are dozens, if not hundreds of traders who trade Bitcoins for fiat cash. Use Localbitcoins to get in touch with these guys.

Yup Even I have some colleagues who is from India, So many people not aware of bitcoins. But who are all working in bitcoin they are very clever and they are doing trading also through localbitcoins.com and btcindia. Except Amazon India and Ebay India  none of the Online shops are accepting as I got info from my friend.

There are many competent software programmers in India. Hotmail was originated from India. One day India will be the forefront of bitcoin related business.

[polynesia]

I am a regular visitor to India (especially to Delhi, and Kerala). Although there are not many shops which accept BTC in these regions, you can easily convert your BTC to fiat cash (INR), at low premiums. In Delhi itself, there are dozens, if not hundreds of traders who trade Bitcoins for fiat cash. Use Localbitcoins to get in touch with these guys.

Yup Even I have some colleagues who is from India, So many people not aware of bitcoins. But who are all working in bitcoin they are very clever and they are doing trading also through localbitcoins.com and btcindia. Except Amazon India and Ebay India  none of the Online shops are accepting as I got info from my friend.

There are many competent software programmers in India. Hotmail was originated from India. One day India will be the forefront of bitcoin related business.

The question is not whether any Bitcoin related business will come up from India, but how Bitcoin adoption will be in India.
You may have competent programmers, but that alone cannot take Bitcoin to the masses.

[manselr]

I am a regular visitor to India (especially to Delhi, and Kerala). Although there are not many shops which accept BTC in these regions, you can easily convert your BTC to fiat cash (INR), at low premiums. In Delhi itself, there are dozens, if not hundreds of traders who trade Bitcoins for fiat cash. Use Localbitcoins to get in touch with these guys.

Yup Even I have some colleagues who is from India, So many people not aware of bitcoins. But who are all working in bitcoin they are very clever and they are doing trading also through localbitcoins.com and btcindia. Except Amazon India and Ebay India  none of the Online shops are accepting as I got info from my friend.

There are many competent software programmers in India. Hotmail was originated from India. One day India will be the forefront of bitcoin related business.

The question is not whether any Bitcoin related business will come up from India, but how Bitcoin adoption will be in India.
You may have competent programmers, but that alone cannot take Bitcoin to the masses.

There are a lot of smart people in indian doing IT and developing cool apps. Not all india is poor so there are chances that someone with enough resources will come up with a killer Bitcoin app and become rich.

[roadbits]

I am a regular visitor to India (especially to Delhi, and Kerala). Although there are not many shops which accept BTC in these regions, you can easily convert your BTC to fiat cash (INR), at low premiums. In Delhi itself, there are dozens, if not hundreds of traders who trade Bitcoins for fiat cash. Use Localbitcoins to get in touch with these guys.

Yup Even I have some colleagues who is from India, So many people not aware of bitcoins. But who are all working in bitcoin they are very clever and they are doing trading also through localbitcoins.com and btcindia. Except Amazon India and Ebay India  none of the Online shops are accepting as I got info from my friend.

There are many competent software programmers in India. Hotmail was originated from India. One day India will be the forefront of bitcoin related business.

The question is not whether any Bitcoin related business will come up from India, but how Bitcoin adoption will be in India.
You may have competent programmers, but that alone cannot take Bitcoin to the masses.

Indian government will not allow bitcoins for so easily to use reason is simple they can't track the transactions and and also can't collect the taxes for these transactions. This was the reason even paypal is exit the India. Paypal didn't agree to pay the taxes for transactions so Indian government didn't allow them to operate in India. It looks like in near future may not happen any things but if bitcoins gain more popularity around the world than they may consider.

[OROBTC]

I am a regular visitor to India (especially to Delhi, and Kerala). Although there are not many shops which accept BTC in these regions, you can easily convert your BTC to fiat cash (INR), at low premiums. In Delhi itself, there are dozens, if not hundreds of traders who trade Bitcoins for fiat cash. Use Localbitcoins to get in touch with these guys.

Yup Even I have some colleagues who is from India, So many people not aware of bitcoins. But who are all working in bitcoin they are very clever and they are doing trading also through localbitcoins.com and btcindia. Except Amazon India and Ebay India  none of the Online shops are accepting as I got info from my friend.

There are many competent software programmers in India. Hotmail was originated from India. One day India will be the forefront of bitcoin related business.

The question is not whether any Bitcoin related business will come up from India, but how Bitcoin adoption will be in India.
You may have competent programmers, but that alone cannot take Bitcoin to the masses.

Indian government will not allow bitcoins for so easily to use reason is simple they can't track the transactions and and also can't collect the taxes for these transactions. This was the reason even paypal is exit the India. Paypal didn't agree to pay the taxes for transactions so Indian government didn't allow them to operate in India. It looks like in near future may not happen any things but if bitcoins gain more popularity around the world than they may consider.

Ahh, roadbits raises and important point re India (same thought for Nepal as well).  Capital Controls.  It is very hard to get any excess rupees changed back into dollars without a receipt showing the original rupee purchase.

If their .gov can't control the money, they will likely NOT be benevolent to Bitcoin.

*   *   *

n2004al

I do not disagree with you re India.  We were there as TOURISTS with a tour group (Americans).

We did see quite a cross-section of India and her citizens just in the 18 or so days we were there (3 more in Nepal).  YES, they are patient and pleasant people.  Very polite.  Seemed non-violent, I did not feel danger even in old towns (eg Delhi).  Multi-lingual in many cases.

India may have a great future (parts of New Delhi hinted at that).  But things can go wrong in places like India, nothing is written in stone.

[chennan]

I am a regular visitor to India (especially to Delhi, and Kerala). Although there are not many shops which accept BTC in these regions, you can easily convert your BTC to fiat cash (INR), at low premiums. In Delhi itself, there are dozens, if not hundreds of traders who trade Bitcoins for fiat cash. Use Localbitcoins to get in touch with these guys.

Yup Even I have some colleagues who is from India, So many people not aware of bitcoins. But who are all working in bitcoin they are very clever and they are doing trading also through localbitcoins.com and btcindia. Except Amazon India and Ebay India  none of the Online shops are accepting as I got info from my friend.

There are many competent software programmers in India. Hotmail was originated from India. One day India will be the forefront of bitcoin related business.

The question is not whether any Bitcoin related business will come up from India, but how Bitcoin adoption will be in India.
You may have competent programmers, but that alone cannot take Bitcoin to the masses.

Indian government will not allow bitcoins for so easily to use reason is simple they can't track the transactions and and also can't collect the taxes for these transactions. This was the reason even paypal is exit the India. Paypal didn't agree to pay the taxes for transactions so Indian government didn't allow them to operate in India. It looks like in near future may not happen any things but if bitcoins gain more popularity around the world than they may consider.

Ahh, roadbits raises and important point re India (same thought for Nepal as well).  Capital Controls.  It is very hard to get any excess rupees changed back into dollars without a receipt showing the original rupee purchase.

If their .gov can't control the money, they will likely NOT be benevolent to Bitcoin.

*   *   *

n2004al

I do not disagree with you re India.  We were there as TOURISTS with a tour group (Americans).

We did see quite a cross-section of India and her citizens just in the 18 or so days we were there (3 more in Nepal).  YES, they are patient and pleasant people.  Very polite.  Seemed non-violent, I did not feel danger even in old towns (eg Delhi).  Multi-lingual in many cases.

India may have a great future (parts of New Delhi hinted at that).  But things can go wrong in places like India, nothing is written in stone.

Wait, I don't really know much about the current state of affairs with Bitcoin and India's government in general... But is there no current exchange offered to the Indian people to be able to exchange bitcoins for the current price in rupees? Is the monetary system so controlled by the government where there is no exchange rate for Indians to deal with Bitcoin in terms of their own denomination? If not this would make India the fore front of bitcoins struggle with mass adoption because India is such a huge country that hasn't been tapped into.

[Yakamoto]

I'm not surprised that Bitcoin won't be widely used in India for a long time, it is a fairly niche market and there aren't many people that own an internet-connected device, based on what I know. It will be even harder for people to be able to use the Bitcoin in their local shops.

If India was a bit more like China it would be more likely to see Bitcoin in India sometime soon, but there simply aren't enough phones or people willing to purchase phones in India that would be willing to learn or use Bitcoin.

[Pab]

India is  continent,mostly agriculture,No internet  infrastructure in many places.His just created  middle class is very small.Bitcoin may grow in India if westerness will pay with btc to his outsourcing  India workers.

Nepal,forget,no internet and now it is one big catasrophe