Bitcoin in India? Not for a LOOOOONG time.

[bryant.coleman]

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.

The current governor of the Reserve Bank of India (Raghuram Rajan) was the mastermind behind driving Paypal out of India. The Indian tax authorities are insane. They are going after middle-class and lower-middle class people, while allowing the high net worth individuals to engage in tax evasions. They have forcibly closed down many of the local bitcoin exchanges. Bitcoin-based businesses are not allowed to open bank accounts. The red tape and bureaucracy is just unbearable. Horrible country, horrible people.

[panju1]

They have forcibly closed down many of the local bitcoin exchanges. Bitcoin-based businesses are not allowed to open bank accounts. 

Nope, none of that is true.
You shouldn't believe everything you read on the net. 

[bitebits]

Not for a long time? I would reconsider:

https://coin.dance/charts/INR

[Yakamoto]

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.

The current governor of the Reserve Bank of India (Raghuram Rajan) was the mastermind behind driving Paypal out of India. The Indian tax authorities are insane. They are going after middle-class and lower-middle class people, while allowing the high net worth individuals to engage in tax evasions. They have forcibly closed down many of the local bitcoin exchanges. Bitcoin-based businesses are not allowed to open bank accounts. The red tape and bureaucracy is just unbearable. Horrible country, horrible people.

Well you have to make sure there are people willing to work for cheap some how.

However I am not entirely convinced that the government has gone and shut down all the exchanges, especially when looking at the localbitcoins charts.

In every country so far, on localbitcoins, the volumes have been surging when you compare it to recently. That's one of the beauties of Bitcoin, there is literally no way to shut it down unless you shut down the internet.

[bryant.coleman]

Well you have to make sure there are people willing to work for cheap some how.

However I am not entirely convinced that the government has gone and shut down all the exchanges, especially when looking at the localbitcoins charts.

In every country so far, on localbitcoins, the volumes have been surging when you compare it to recently. That's one of the beauties of Bitcoin, there is literally no way to shut it down unless you shut down the internet.

Well... there is no de jure ban against Bitcoin exchanges in India, but definitely there is a de facto ban. Most of the local exchanges have seen raids by the tax authorities, and none of the banks will work with them. So far, foreign exchanges such as Localbitcoins and Bitfinex are not affected, but I am not sure for how long this situation will remain as such.

[OROBTC]

Well you have to make sure there are people willing to work for cheap some how.

However I am not entirely convinced that the government has gone and shut down all the exchanges, especially when looking at the localbitcoins charts.

In every country so far, on localbitcoins, the volumes have been surging when you compare it to recently. That's one of the beauties of Bitcoin, there is literally no way to shut it down unless you shut down the internet.

Well... there is no de jure ban against Bitcoin exchanges in India, but definitely there is a de facto ban. Most of the local exchanges have seen raids by the tax authorities, and none of the banks will work with them. So far, foreign exchanges such as Localbitcoins and Bitfinex are not affected, but I am not sure for how long this situation will remain as such.

There sure do seem to be what look like warring factions in India re Bitcoin.  Some of what I saw (first-time visitor, and as a tourist) made me think that they might have a shot at superpower-dome...

But, cracking down on future-oriented technologies is not wise.

And, yes, I know that India has always been very bad re bureaucracies.  That will hurt them.  Slow them down.

[polynesia]

There sure do seem to be what look like warring factions in India re Bitcoin.  Some of what I saw (first-time visitor, and as a tourist) made me think that they might have a shot at superpower-dome...

But, cracking down on future-oriented technologies is not wise.

And, yes, I know that India has always been very bad re bureaucracies.  That will hurt them.  Slow them down.

Warring factions in India?
What exactly are you referring to in relation to Bitcoin?

[calkob]

...

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.

And whys that any difference than in the west?  i live in the UK and i would say that i only have 1 friend out of many who has ever heard of bitcoin.  it hasnt takeoff yet anywhere in the world, yes there is a few million people who have it, have heard off it and use it but that i still a very small minority.  mass adoption wont happen untill the big banks and corperations come on board and promote it.  and they aint there yet, they are still in the attack it stage.  but once they relize that bitcoin is here to stay and that no matter what they do to stop it they lose.  then we will see mass adoption.

[OROBTC]

There sure do seem to be what look like warring factions in India re Bitcoin.  Some of what I saw (first-time visitor, and as a tourist) made me think that they might have a shot at superpower-dome...

But, cracking down on future-oriented technologies is not wise.

And, yes, I know that India has always been very bad re bureaucracies.  That will hurt them.  Slow them down.

Warring factions in India?
What exactly are you referring to in relation to Bitcoin?

Potential users of Bitcoin vs. government (particularly tax authorities there).  Tech vs. Indian .gov.  Lots of factions in India with differing agendas...

bryant.coleman knows more about India & tech than I do.  But, their .gov cracking down on BTC, exchanges, and just their CAPITAL CONTROLS will slow India down.

Can you buy anything in/from India yet with BTC?  You can buy gold with BTC here in the USA...

[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.

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

I wishing you a great success for you guys. People from Europe also welcoming guys who are all with good talent. Many people not seeing race, or anything. Some people are there. leave them as it is. Have a great success in BTC also In your country.

[nichu]

It's a pity since that's a huge market out there that could cause a new price surge.
Are there already any Bitcoin related start-ups in India that any of you know of?

there are startups in banglore related to bitcoin. if my guess is right the mod benson has a start up company in banglore. bitcoin is not at all popular in here thats a sad thing. but time will come pretty soon. E commerce is a big thing here in india. once they start accepting bitcoin then these figures will change for sure

[quentincole32]

...

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.

that's true,india is not china,they have some different,excatly on economic condition,but i think india is also have strength to move like china on future.
lets see some years again,i'm sure Asian country will chasing china soon.

[Rude Boy]

If bitcoin having more adoption like in china, imo india might be the worst economical country. Because of black money and corruption.

[EdenHazard]

...

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.

yes i agree with that,i just find some people from india,and they also dont know much about bitcoin,the market is not high and busy,but we dont know what situation on this year in india,i hope they gonna more care about bitcoin like philiphine and indonesia.

[mrflibblehat]

As long as they have internet they'll hear about bitcoin soon enough.

[greBit]

As long as they have internet they'll hear about bitcoin soon enough.

I have friends in India and they are aware of bitcoin and some of them do bitcoin trading as well, but when they try to explain it to others the other people thinks that these bitcoin users are trying to fool them since there were so many scams like this in the past but very soon you will see bitcoin trend in India as well.

[bryant.coleman]

As long as they have internet they'll hear about bitcoin soon enough.

How many internet users are there in the world right now? I believe that the figure is somewhere around 3.0 billion and 3.5 billion. Now, how many of them have heard about Bitcoins? A few tens of millions, at the most. And now comes the difficult question. How many of them have used Bitcoins, at least once in their lives? The answer is less than 1 million. So out of 3,250 million internet users, we have 1 million who are using Bitcoins.

Having internet users doesn't mean that there will be a lot of Bitcoiners.

[x13]

Isn't indian population very young, is it? So, the most should have at least a cell phone. It is an unused potential. Probably, they just get to know about this great payment opportunity.

I am an Indian, Bitcoin is not that famous in India. People always prefer currency notes to cards, so having a mobile wallet is like far from reach. Only the younger generation is getting to know about bitcoin.

[Pollak]

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.

The current governor of the Reserve Bank of India (Raghuram Rajan) was the mastermind behind driving Paypal out of India. The Indian tax authorities are insane. They are going after middle-class and lower-middle class people, while allowing the high net worth individuals to engage in tax evasions. They have forcibly closed down many of the local bitcoin exchanges. Bitcoin-based businesses are not allowed to open bank accounts. The red tape and bureaucracy is just unbearable. Horrible country, horrible people.

I think it will happen fast. The world is becoming more digital and that is quite good. I hope that it will be more popular also.
And that more countries is going to use it. But you never know about the value. It is hard to predict.

[cjmoles]

Enlightening discussion here.  What amazes me is that when I walk into my Engineering courses here in the US, the lecture halls are predominately filled with East Indian students.  So, it is hard for me to wrap my mind around an India which is behind the curve technologically. If bitcoin is not prevalent in India now, I would have to assume that it will be soon.  It's a new generation....a re-interpreted Moore's Law might be applicable when it comes to how fast technology will take hold in some of these places.  When it comes to measuring value, I believe that an equity in education trumps an equity in capital and we will see a return on this investment in the very near future.