Crypto exchange Coinbase has officially launched direct Indian rupee (INR) deposit and withdrawal services for retail users in India, ending the need for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions or workarounds. As reported by CoinDesk, Indian customers can now deposit and withdraw rupees via IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), enabling direct rupee transactions without relying on intermediaries. The rollout provides Indian users access to spot trading across multiple crypto assets and perpetual futures contracts linked to major cryptocurrencies, with the company stating that "Over the past few years, we've invested meaningfully in the Indian ecosystem." The mechanism uses IMPS, India's real-time interbank transfer system, offering instant settlement with a cap of ₹5,00,000 per transaction and per day. Users can link up to five bank accounts, verified through name matching and two-step SMS authentication.
According to CoinDesk, Coinbase has introduced local rupee order books to provide dedicated liquidity for Indian traders while maintaining access to its global exchange infrastructure. The company emphasized that Coinbase Advanced's trading charges are in line with those of major Indian crypto exchanges, and users do not have to pay any fee to deposit INR. The platform offers TradingView charting tools for customers who prefer a discretionary approach, along with APIs built to institutional standards for advanced functionality. The India help page confirms that cash balances, deposits, withdrawals, crypto buys and sells, Simple Trade, Advanced Trade, perpetual futures, Wallet access, and USDC support are all available, with bank-account linking rolling out gradually. The full flow now lets users deposit INR from a bank account, trade on spot or futures markets, and withdraw INR back to the same banking system.
As reported by CoinDesk, the Nasdaq-listed company secured registration with India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) on March 2025, establishing the compliance framework for its current IMPS rollout. The company stated that "We registered with FIU-IND and comply with all Indian taxation law requirements, because we're here for the long term." The current IMPS rollout operates within that registered framework rather than through the earlier UPI path, which was halted within days after India's National Payments Corporation said it was unaware of any such arrangement when Coinbase launched in India in April 2022. The INR support is being rolled out to existing users, while new customers can create accounts and access the service as it becomes available. India requires crypto exchanges to follow anti-money laundering rules, with the country also applying a 30% tax on crypto gains, while a full crypto rulebook has not yet been set.
According to CoinDesk, Coinbase reopened India access in December 2025 with crypto-only trading after a two-year pause, when Indian users could not deposit or withdraw rupees. The latest rollout changes that setup, with Coinbase now supporting direct INR movement through IMPS while still giving users access to its global exchange and advanced trading tools. The earlier return gave users access to crypto transfers, Simple Trade, Advanced Trade, and Coinbase Wallet, with the INR launch adding the missing fiat route that Coinbase had planned for 2026. Coinbase has previously invested significantly in the Indian crypto ecosystem, including backing domestic exchange CoinDCX and providing more than $1 million in grants, fellowships and hackathons for developers in India through its Ethereum Layer-2 network Base, with around 150 projects evolving into startups. John O'Loghlen, Regional Managing Director APAC and Country Director Australia at Coinbase, stated that "India has long been one of the most important markets in crypto," linking the market to developer talent, trading activity, and wider blockchain use.
As reported by CoinDesk, the timing of Coinbase's direct INR rails launch aligns with India's position as the top-ranked country in Chainalysis's 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. IMARC Group estimated India's cryptocurrency market at USD 3.04 billion in 2025, projecting it to reach USD 14.21 billion by 2034 at an 18.66% CAGR. The launch gives Coinbase a wider product in India than its earlier crypto-only access, placing the exchange back in a market where strict taxes, compliance checks, and local payment access continue to shape crypto trading. Whether Coinbase's direct INR rails will shift meaningful volume away from domestic competitors like WazirX and CoinDCX will depend on pricing, liquidity depth, and how smoothly the IMPS integration scales beyond its initial rollout. The move addresses a major barrier that has historically pushed Indian traders toward domestic exchanges or informal channels, as before direct fiat rails, Indian users typically relied on peer-to-peer trades or third-party payment intermediaries that added friction, cost, and counterparty risk.
