India treats many crypto businesses as virtual digital asset (VDA) service providers. If they exchange, transfer or custodially hold crypto for customers who use the Indian market, they are expected to register with the Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND) as reporting entities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). That is an anti-money-laundering filing duty, not a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) investment licence and not a government endorsement of any token or trading desk.
Public counts move. A Press Information Bureau note tied to 1 October 2025 put the number of registered VDA providers at fifty, without reprinting a full named roster in that release. Earlier parliamentary material — for example a Lok Sabha annex dated December 2024 — listed dozens of brands against Indian or offshore legal entities, from familiar onshore names such as CoinDCX, WazirX, ZebPay and CoinSwitch to larger international groups that had completed FIU-IND onboarding. Secondary trackers later cited still-higher counts as more firms filed. Treat any blog reprint of “the list” as a snapshot: the official answer is whatever FIU-IND and the ministry publish on the day you check.
Registration answers a narrow question: has this firm told the intelligence unit it will keep records and file suspicious-transaction reports? It does not prove solvency, fair order books, or that withdrawals will work when markets turn. Offshore platforms that never registered have faced separate notices (a different story). Before you fund any desk that claims to “serve India legally”, look up the entity on FIU-IND’s own channels or a current government annex, match the legal name — not just a shiny brand — and ignore marketing that confuses AML registration with a sealed-of-approval for your capital.
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This article is for general information only. It is not legal or financial advice. Details change. If you have lost money, contact your bank or card issuer and use the routes on the help pages.