Answer from RBI: As on date no such prohibition exist.
The word "no such prohibition exists" is not enough, this does not mean that you are allowed to trade, especially if we talk about big investments, exchange platforms, or activities related to cryptos.
No, this is wrong statement. Citizens in India are now allowed to do any kind of legal transactions related to cryptocurrencies through their bank account, no matter private or business transactions, irrespective of size of transaction. Every Indian citizen is one hundred percent allowed to trade cryptocurrencies. There is no prohibition imposed on banks by either RBI or government as of now.
In fact, many banks have complained that they have not been notified about lifting the ban on cryptocurrencies:
It is true that RBI didn't issue any public announcement after the Supreme Court judgement so there's a chance that few bankers were still unclear about legality. I haven't checked the recent announcements so I am unsure if RBI have made any announcement on the matter or not but anyhow banks are now liable to provide banking services to crypto users. They can't deny them from banking services on any ground provided users are indulged in legal business/trading.
The article you cited was written on 4th of May and RBI answered Unocoin Co-founder's request dated 22nd April on 25th May. So it usually takes around a month for public departments to answer people's question. Hence, every requester will get the answer sooner or later. Also RTI Act allows respondent to refrain from answering certain questions if the request doesn't fall under the definition of 'information' as per RTI Act. The question asked by ET was strategic and responding such question would have been speculative.
