Coinbase launched direct INR bank transfers through IMPS, expanding crypto trading access for users in India.
Coinbase News
Coinbase has activated direct Indian rupee bank transfers for users in India through the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) network, allowing local customers to move funds between bank accounts and the exchange. The update, announced in a company blog post on May 31, marks the exchange's most substantive move in the Indian market since its failed 2022 entry.
Indian users now have access to spot markets, perpetual futures, and the Advanced Trade interface through a single platform. Coinbase says it has also built local INR order books to concentrate domestic liquidity alongside connectivity to its global exchange.
The launch follows Coinbase's registration with India's Financial Intelligence Unit in March 2025, which gave the company a formal regulatory foothold in the country and enabled it to offer crypto trading services under India's Anti-Money Laundering framework.
Coinbase previously attempted to enter India in 2022, briefly enabling Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based rupee deposits before suspending them within days. Payments authorities distanced themselves from crypto use of the UPI network, and partner services stopped supporting the integration, forcing the exchange to withdraw.
The exchange is entering a market already served by domestic platforms including CoinDCX, CoinSwitch, ZebPay and WazirX. Global exchanges such as Binance and KuCoin are also active in India but have primarily relied on crypto-only or peer-to-peer rupee access rather than direct IMPS-based bank rails.
India imposes a 30% tax on most digital asset gains and a 1% tax deducted at source on certain transactions, creating a challenging environment for both users and exchanges. Despite those headwinds, the market has drawn sustained interest from global platforms seeking exposure to one of the world's largest retail crypto user bases.
Chainalysis ranked India first in its 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, ahead of 150 countries, based on retail on-chain activity, centralized exchange usage, decentralized finance participation, and transaction volumes. That ranking reflects the scale of grassroots crypto engagement that exchanges like Coinbase are working to reach through infrastructure improvements like direct bank rails.
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