Category: Infographic

Tax on crypto: Where things stand on regulation of virtual assets in India

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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For the longest time, the crypto community in India was in the dark when it came to the classification and taxation of cryptocurrencies. However, this changed when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her 2022-23 Budget Speech, announced a 30 percent tax on all “virtual digital assets” including non-fungible tokens (NFTs). She also announced a 1 percent tax deducted at source (TDS) on the purchase of cryptocurrencies.

While the new tax laws mean that crypto assets are legal in India, there is still a pending regulatory bill that could change things once it is introduced. This bill has been titled ‘The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021’ and according to the Lok Sabha website, it will be introduced “to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India.”

Although this may sound worrying, the bill is still a work in progress and the newly introduced tax laws indicate a positive outlook from the government in regard to digital assets.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Decoded: Bitcoin, Bitcoin futures, Bitcoin futures ETF

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bitcoin: Bitcoin is the world’s first and the largest cryptocurrency. It is a decentralised digital currency with a set of protocols and processes and is not available in the physical form. It records transactions on a ledger called a blockchain and offers protection against fraud and thefts. The balances kept on the blockchain can be accessed by everyone making it transparent.

Bitcoin futures: Bitcoin futures, like stock futures, are a type of derivative trading instrument. It allows investors to invest in Bitcoin without holding it (as the derivative would track the price of the underlying asset, in this case, Bitcoin). Investors enter into a contractual agreement to buy or sell the digital coin at a later date, which is pre-specified. And this obligation must be fulfilled on the expiration date. They also allow investors to speculate the future prices and buy if they see the coin going up and sell if they see it falling.

Bitcoin futures ETF: A bitcoin futures ETF is an exchange-traded fund that allows investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without holding it. These funds track the prices of Bitcoin futures and are regulated. Investors can trade the shares of ETF like they would trade any stocks. But unlike mutual funds, investors can buy and sell ETF shares anytime during trading hours. Bitcoin futures ETF give investors an alternate men’s of investing in bitcoin and profiting off its future price movements.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Types of cryptocurrencies and technologies behind them, explained

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bitcoin, the world’s oldest and largest cryptocurrency, did not have much of competiiton when it was launched back in 2009. Fast forward to 2021, it faces competition from a number of different types of cryptos.

Different types of cryptos fall in two broad categories: One, Bitcoin and altcoins. Two, tokens that live within a given blockchain of a different platform. While the terms crypto, coins, and tokens are used interchangeably, they have some common differences.

Both tokens and coins are cryptos and they have separate functions and are built on different blockchains. For example, Ether is built on Ethereum blockchain. But Basic Attention Token is also built on Ethereum platform. Now, while coins can act as a form of currency, tokens cannot, despite being built on a blockchain. Tokens are prograamble assets that allow execution of smart contracts.

Smart contracts are programs stored on blockchain that run when a particular set of conditions are met. Just like any other computer program. Except, in this case, these contracts establish the ownership of assets outside of the blockchain. Plus, tokens aren’t necessarily a currency, rather they act as a non-fungible items of value like points, coins, or artwork.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SC extends stay on criminal proceedings against Azim Premji, other

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Supreme Court Tuesday extended the stay on criminal proceedings against former Wipro chairman Azim Premji, his wife and others on their plea seeking quashing of summons issued by a Bengaluru court on a “frivolous” and “mischievous” complaint filed by an NGO alleging breach of trust and corruption in merger of three companies with a Premji group firm. A bench of justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh was hearing an appeal filed by Premji challenging the Karnataka High Court order of May 15 which had rejected their pleas for quashing of the January 27 summons issued by the trial court.

“We would not like to spend considerable judicial time on these proceedings in the context of some of the orders read against the respondent in the present proceedings, more so, in view of the criminal contempt proceedings initiated against the complainant, the volunteer and Mr. R. Subramanium vide order dated July 6, 2021 by a Bench of the Karnataka High Court,” the bench said. The apex court was told that the next date in those proceedings is October 19.

“Both the parties assure us that they will fully cooperate to see that a final view is taken by the division bench in those proceedings and we are placing the present matters for directions, by which date possibly, the view of the Karnataka High Court would be placed before us,” the bench said. The top court was informed that the contemnors have not filed any reply to the contempt notice but have filed an application seeking recall of the order issuing notice. “In that application, the petitioner(s) before us have to file a reply and that application will come up for consideration.” We see no reason why the contemnors should not file a reply to the contempt notice, without prejudice to their claims made in the application seeking recall of the order and such a reply be filed by October 18, 2021 before the High Court and be brought on record and it will be thereafter for the High Court to proceed in the manner deemed appropriate qua the contempt notice as well as the application for recall,” the bench said.

The matter is listed for next hearing on December 2. The apex court had earlier issued notice to an NGO, Indian Awake for Transparency and others and sought their response.

Premji and others have challenged the high court order of May 15 which had rejected their pleas for quashing of the January 27, summons issued by the trial court. Others who had challenged the high court order include Pagalthivarthi Srinivasan, then regional director in the ministry of corporate affairs M R Bhat and chartered accountant G Venkateshwara Rao.

The summons were issued by the trial court on the basis of a complaint filed by India Awake for Transparency alleging illegality in the transfer of assets worth Rs 45,000 crore from three companies into a private trust and a newly formed company. In their appeals, Premji and others have said that the complainant NGO had suppressed material facts and documents including that the scheme of amalgamation had already been sanctioned by Karnataka High Court by order dated March 26, 2015.

They said that the trial court order of January 27, taking cognizance and summoning the accused has been passed without judicial application of mind and without considering the fact that the scheme of amalgamation had already been approved by the High Court. Rao in his appeal has said that the record clearly shows that complainant is linked to one R Subramanian-former promoter and director of a company known as Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd, which is a defaulter of Premji’s companies and complaint under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act is pending against it.

“Therefore there is clear animosity and bad blood between R Subramanian and Mr Azim Premji and the subject complaint appears to be one in line of many frivolous complaints and litigations instituted by R Subramanian against Azim Premji and his companies, many of which stand dismissed with cost by different courts/tribunals”, the appeal of Rao said. The complainant India Awake for Transparency (IAT) had alleged that Azim Premji, Yaseem Azim Premji and Pagalthivarthi Srinivasan were entrusted with the dominion over the properties and assets of three companies Vidya Investment and Trading Company Private Limited, Regal Investment and Trading Company Private Limited and Napean Investment and Trading Company Private Limited as directors.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

A beginners guide to Cryptocurrency

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Cryptocurrency is a digital asset that can be used to buy goods and services. It is highly decentralised in nature,  meaning unlike other currencies, it is not controlled by a central authority.

Bitcoin is the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency. While cryptos are mostly traded on exchanges, slowly countries are warming up to the idea of using them as legal tender. El Salvador is the first country to legally adopt Bitcoin as a currency.  This small country in Central America adopted Bitcoin earlier in September. And other countries are mulling to follow El Salvador’s footsteps.

What makes cryptos different from regular currencies is the fact that all their transactions are highly encrypted. Cryptos use blockchain for managing and recording transactions. Multiple entities are involved in this process, making it an extremely secure technology.

As of today, the crypto market is worth over $2 trillion, with it clocking over 8 percent in the last 24 hours.

Some most popular cryptos are Bitcoin ($47,400, +9 percent); Ether ($3,269, 9 percent); Cardano ($2, +4 percent), Polkadot ($31, 10 percent), Solana ($156, 12 percent), Dogecoin ($0.21, 7 percent).

Here’s a quick guide to cryptocurrency for beginners:

Also Read | Here’s Everything You Need To Know About De-Fi And How To Invest In It Today

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Explained: How does crypto coin burning work

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Coin burning is a process where cryptocurrency miners and developers remove a specific portion of coins from circulation to control their price.

The biggest ever coin burn was conducted by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin when he burned 90 percent of his Shiba Inu holdings. Recently, Indian cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX conducted a coin burning exercise in which it removed 7.3 million WazirX coins (WRX) from circulation.

How does coin burning work

Crypto burning is a very transparent process. Anyone can verify the burning process on the blockchain. But for it to begin, a miner has to decide how many coins they want to take out of circulation.

The burning process removes that particular amount of coins from the market. Basically, the miner sends those tokens to an address with no private key. Without any private key, no one can access the coins. This results in the effective removal of the coins.

Also Read | Key things to know about WazirX’s 5th coin burn, and coin burning in general 

For more information, check out our infographic on which explains the entire process in detail:

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Guide to buying and selling bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bitcoin has been in the news lately due to its wild price swings. However, this has not deterred investors with the cryptocurrency market seeing a boom in trading participation. The entire altcoin revolution that originated in 2008 after a person or a group operating under the pseudonym ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ published a paper outlining the concept of Bitcoin, has changed the entire monetary system of the globe. Here is a quick guide on how one can trade in this asset class:

On Thursday, the crypto market has witnessed a mixed bag trade as investors have rushed to book profits. Bitcoin lost some of its steam and dropped 4 percent to $34k levels. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is down over 40 percent in April-June period. However, Bitcoin outperformed large altcoins in June – while Bitcoin declined nearly 3 percent in June, altcoins like Ripple XRP, EOS, and Chainlink lost over 30 percent.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Top cryptocurrency exchanges in India. Check details

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Since the start of January, the value of Bitcoin has risen over 85 percent, hitting $65,000 in mid-April, driven in part by Tesla chief Elon Musk and partly by the billionaire hedge fund managers who consider bitcoin as a digital equivalent of Gold.

But after enjoying a massive bull rally, a sell-off in early May crippled the crypto market. It was triggered by the concerns of regulatory crackdowns, rising inflation, environmental issues, and slowing institutional demand.

Despite that, the interest in this asset class has gone up. Indians, traditionally obsessed with gold (Indian households own over 25,000 tonnes of gold) have turned their eyeballs to cryptos.

According to data from Chainalysis, crypto investments in India have grown over 600 percent from April 2020 to May 2021.

As interest spikes, investors are looking for cryptocurrency exchanges that allow them to buy and sell digital coins like Bitcoin.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest crypto exchanges in India:

Also Read | Planning to invest in digital currencies? Here are top tips for beginners

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

‘Trust science and scientists’: PM Modi urges citizens to shed COVID vaccine hesitancy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Cautioning people that the threat of COVID-19 remains, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged them to shed vaccine hesitancy and get themselves inoculated soon. In his monthly Mann ki Baat broadcast, Modi hailed the feat of most vaccination doses administered in a single day on June 21 at the start of the new phase of inoculation under which all adults are being given free jabs.

Seeking to make people shed vaccine hesitancy, Modi spoke to residents of Dulariya village in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh and counselled them to take the vaccine amidst their doubts about the exercise. He noted that both he and his nearly 100-year-old mother have taken both doses of the vaccine, and asked people not to believe in rumours and trust science and scientists.

“The threat of COVID-19 remains and we have to focus on vaccination as well as follow COVID-19 protocols,” he said. With the Monsoon approaching, Modi also stressed on water conservation.

In his broadcast, he also paid tributes and remembered the contribution of Indian sprint legend Milkha Singh, who died earlier this month. Modi hailed Singh’s contribution to Indian sports and said he will always cherish his interactions with the athlete.

Singh died in a Chandigarh hospital after a month-long battle with COVID-19. He also lost his wife Nirmal Kaur, a former national volleyball captain, to the same disease. Modi also shared the struggles and triumphs of Olympics-bound Indian athletes and said that people must not build any pressure on these sports persons but “cheer for India”.

“Every athlete who is going to Tokyo has worked hard. They are going there to win hearts. It must be our endeavour to support our team and not put pressure on the team,” he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Ankur Bhatia of Bird Group passes away at 48

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ankur Bhatia, executive director of Bird Group and owner of Roseate Hotels died today due to a massive cardiac arrest in Delhi. He was 48.

“It is with profound grief that we inform you about the sudden demise of our beloved Dr Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director, Bird Group. Dr. Bhatia (48) suffered a massive cardiac arrest this morning and succumbed to it,” Bird Group said in a statement.

“We have not only lost our leader, our visionary but the world has lost an astounding human being. The Bhatia family is in a state of deep shock and requests you to respect their privacy in this difficult time of grief,” the group added.

Also read: Delhi HC rejects Juhi Chawla’s ‘publicity’ plea against 5G networks; slaps cost of Rs 20 lakh

Dr Ankur Bhatia was an expert in the industries of hospitality and aviation and was credited with bringing the Amadeus brand to the Indian sub-continent in 1994.

Dr Bhatia led the group in the hospitality sector under Bird Hospitality Services and created hospitality assets through Roseate Hotels and Resorts.

Today, the Group owns and operates six uber-luxury properties in India and the UK. He is also credited to have launched the country’s first natural and perennial indoor ice-skating rink and café – iSKATE, located in Ambience Mall, Gurugram.

Also read: Aviation minister says working on stake sale in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru airports

While still pursuing his degree from King’s College, University of London, he piloted Reservation Data Maintenance (India) Pvt. Ltd. (RDM) for managing back-end airline operations and inventory control. He also forayed into IT services and R&D with Bird Information Systems (BIS). He also set up BirdRes, a B2B distribution channel that allows the travel industry players to effectively manage all aspects of their content and payment needs in a flexible and easy-to-use solution. He also opened an IT Solutions & Services company in Dubai, Bird Technologies FZ LLC.

In 2017, Dr. Bhatia established BirdApps, which is an on-demand marketplace for the travel, hospitality and lifestyle sectors.

An expert in the fields of aviation and tourism, he was part of committees of various industry bodies and was a member of the CII National Committee on Aviation, Infrastructure and Luxury Retail. He had served from 2006 – 2007 as the youngest elected Chairman for the Delhi State Council for Confederation of Indian Industries. Dr Bhatia was also a very active member of the World Economic Forum in India.

Also read: Delhi International Airport launches dedicated COVID-19 vaccine centre

A firm practitioner of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), he has institutionalised the concept of caring and giving at Bird Group. Dr Bhatia has been affiliated with the nonprofit charitable organisation Sukarya which strives to improve the health and wellbeing of members of marginalized societies by providing free health services. He is also a contributor and sponsor of many charitable events such as the Blind Relief Association, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Concern India Foundation, etc.

Dr Bhatia lived in New Delhi with his wife and his two children.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow