India’s Standing Committee on Finance has scheduled the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) to provide oral testimony on Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, according to a Lok Sabha Secretariat notice dated September 3, 2026. This brings the nation’s crypto framework back onto the parliamentary agenda and revives a hearing that had been scheduled and then cancelled in late August.
The meeting, which is part of the panel’s continuing research “A Study on Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) and Way Forward,” is slated for 1100 hours in Committee Room D of the Parliament House Annex (PHA) in New Delhi. This hearing is most closely watched by India’s crypto industry, because the DEA is the arm of the Ministry of Finance that will shape the eventual policy line the government adopts.
Source: sansad.in
The notice is signed by Director Bharti Sanjeev Tuteja. Agenda papers will be circulated through the Members’ Portal before the sitting. Bhartruhari Mahtab chairs the committee.
Before finalizing its stand-alone VDA report, the committee looked out one last piece of institutional proof, which is the DEA’s presence. The ministry’s testimony was delayed by over three weeks, and a study the panel has been conducting since 2024–2025 was put on hold after an earlier DEA hearing scheduled for August 27 on the same topic was cancelled without a new date.
The DEA is more than a simple witness. Since September 2024, the ministry wing’s long-awaited discussion paper on VDAs has been announced, postponed, and postponed several times. Most recently, it was postponed once again in April 2026 due to alleged resistance from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The market will consequently interpret anything DEA officials say on September 16 as the closest indication of how New Delhi plans to handle cryptocurrency in years.
Although cryptocurrency is not prohibited in India, it is also not recognized as legal money. Gains from the transfer of any VDA are subject to a flat 30% tax, plus any relevant cess, under Section 115BBH of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Certain transfers are subject to a 1% Tax Deducted at Source (TDS). Losses cannot be carried forward or deducted from any other income. These regulations were not altered in the Union Budget 2026.
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