“With the Union Budget 2026, there is an opportunity to rationalize India’s digital asset framework through targeted, pragmatic refinements. The current 1% TDS and 30% flat tax, without loss set-off provisions, have constrained liquidity and pushed activity offshore. Reducing TDS to a workable range, allowing loss set-off within VDAs, and clarifying cost basis treatment, including transaction costs, would help keep activity onshore while maintaining compliance.

A pragmatic starting point would be to set clear rules for rupee-linked digital instruments, whether that means tokenized bank deposits issued under existing banking oversight or a regulated stablecoin model with strict requirements around reserves, disclosures, audits, redemption rights, and licensed issuers.

Countries across the Middle East, Singapore, and Japan are moving decisively on this front. India’s young, tech-savvy population and strong fintech ecosystem make it naturally positioned to lead, provided the right tax and policy signals are in place.”

“India’s strength has always been its ability to create outsized impact at unprecedented scale—often by scaling within chaos rather than waiting for perfect conditions. From universal suffrage to digital payments and physical infrastructure, the country has built systems that serve 1/5th of the world’s population and unlocked opportunity at a speed few nations have ever matched. This ability to operate, adapt, and compound within complexity is deeply embedded in India’s institutional DNA.

However, there is a natural ceiling to how far scale alone can take us. Over time, other economies matched and surpassed India by relying on rigid, rule-based structures designed for predictable environments. AI now changes that equation. Intent-driven, adaptive systems align far more closely with India’s strength of scaling within chaos than traditional software ever could. Union Budget 2026 can focus on sustained investment in AI research, compute, and deployment across government and industry, enabling India to once again turn its unique approach to scale into a durable global advantage.”