6

Recent Trends in Blockchain

Adoption in India
Vijaya Kittu Manda
Doctoral Research Scholar, GITAM School of Business,
Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management Deemed to be University,
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India 530 045
Email: vijaykittu@hotmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-1680-8210

Khaliq Lubza Nihar

Associate Professor, Department of Finance, GITAM School of Business,
Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management Deemed to be University,
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India 530 045
Email: lnihar@gitam.edu
ORCID: 0000-0001-6272-3579

Abstract
Blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is a disruptive technology that has
revolutionized the creation and management of digital assets, mainly user data involved
in transactions. The advent of Web 3.0 and other technologies can change how digital and
financial transactions are made using the Internet. This review paper takes forward the
discussion done in Manda & Polisetty, 2018. It appraises the recent developments in the
adoption of technology in India and the progress made so far, especially from 2018-2022.
The paper also discusses barriers and challenges of technology adoption hampering its
penetration in India. The review considers the Government and its policies, Regulators and
their regulation, Public Institutions and the infrastructure set up, and private institutions
(especially startups) and how they build next-generation distributed applications that take
advantage of Blockchain. The insight that the paper will offer to Academic researchers
and other stakeholders regarding the recent developments in the adoption of blockchain
technology is the proposed contribution of the literature review on this topic.
Keywords: Cyber infrastructure, capacity building, blockchain projects, financial transactions
JEL Classification: O33, O14, O38
 Recent Trends in Blockchain Adoption in India  55

INTRODUCTION
The Fourth Industrial Revolution focused on the theme of Cyber-Physical Systems (Figure 1 shows
various sub-themes encircling the broad theme). It includes Digitalization/Integration of value
chains, Digitalization/Integration of Product and Service Offerings, and Digital Business Models
and Customer Access. Technology advancements in transactional data storage aided with strong
encryption have led to emerging technologies such as Blockchain. Blockchain falls under Digital
Business Models and Customer Access -> Authentication & Fraud Detection as per Shockoe.
There are real societal implications of Blockchain technology adoption (Figure 2). As per World
Economic Forum (WEF), Blockchain falls under Agency and Trust systems.
Blockchain in India made some progress as the technology is getting accepted by the
Governments and the Industry. This research article is an update to our earlier research work
(Manda & Polisetty, 2018). Though cryptocurrencies are discouraged, the underlying Blockchain
technology should be embraced owing to the numerous revolutionary positive disruptions it will
cause for the country. Blockchain Use-Cases such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money
Laundering (AML) are classical beneficial implementations. Further, the Indian Central Bank – the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wishes to launch its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)
called Digital Rupee, thanks to the inspiration it received from the Government of India through
the Union Budget.
Not just the Governments and corporations but startups too are embracing Blockchain. 5ire, a
sustainable blockchain startup, raised $100 million in Series A funding, making its valuation $1.5
billion and a unicorn. The startup is into rewarding validators and creditors for taking sustainable
actions (Eetika, 2022).
India has already explored Blockchain use-cases and developed into Proof of Concept
(PoC) in areas such as e-KYC Document Management which is an inevitable and mandatory
compliance requirement, Trade Finance Cross-border Payments, Supply Chain Financing (such
as in automobiles and tracing parts back to auto ancillary companies), and Employee Loyalty/
Rewards, among others (Deloitte-ASSOCHAM, 2017). Considerable progress has been made in
the public sector – specifically in Land registration, Digital certificates, and Customs duty payment
(Deloitte-FICCI, 2018). Digital assets and the underlying blockchain technology are a strategic
priority, according to a 2021 global survey of participants in the financial services industry from
different countries. Eighty percent of respondents from various services who participated in a
survey stated that blockchain technology is essential to their business models (Deloitte, 2021).
While the Cryptotech Industry in India is still in its infancy, NASSCOM feels that the industry is
fast growing, driven by Bitcoin, DeFi, and Crypto Capital, and is poised to grow 2X faster, creating
800k+ jobs by 2030 (NASSCOM, 2021). The demand for Indian professionals is growing despite
a global slowdown in talent hiring. Companies like Binance have officially welcomed the Indian
Web 3.0 community to come and join their workforce.
 56   Adaptation of Technological Advancement in India

Source: Shockoe
Figure 1: The evolution of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study’s objective is to review the available research and industry practices regarding blockchain
implementation practices in India.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The ever-changing business landscape impacted by disruptive technologies has redesigned business
processes, business systems, and business models. Blockchain adoption is a global phenomenon,
and business in emerging economies like India have transformed their models and practices. A
comprehensive understanding of the adoption of Blockchain across various industries will enable
Indian businesses/firms/corporations to benefit from the early adoption of disruptive technologies.
The adoption should lead to benefit the stakeholder community of the business. Early adoption
requires a complete revision of financial plans, operational plans, and change in business processes
and business models. This paper attempts to throw insights into adoption to enable stakeholders to
devise implementation plans and strategies for more effective implementation of the technology.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study uses scholarly articles, books, and other relevant sources to study the recent trends in
adopting blockchain technology. The study gathers available information, observes the technology
developments and the adoption that happened so far, records the observations, and describes the
derived benefits from such technology implementations. Keywords were used to filter relevant
 Recent Trends in Blockchain Adoption in India  57

information from journals, research papers, websites, official websites of various companies and
other agencies, and annual reports.

DISCUSSION
According to the research, the digital market is steadily gaining speed with rising trends around the
world, and most developing and well-established countries dominate the sector of cryptocurrencies
and blockchain technology. According to the Blockchain Council, the top 10 countries that have
adopted blockchain technology are Japan, China, Lebanon, Switzerland, South Africa, United
Kingdom, Singapore, Bahamas, United States, and Estonia. India’s demographic dividend makes
the country a potential market for early blockchain adoption. The examples cited in the paper are
the PoC or early adoptions of Blockchain in India.

TRADE FINANCING
Indian banks have learned lessons from the past and recent frauds related to trade financing. In the
case of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, about US$4 billion was fraudulently siphoned off from
Punjab National Bank by obtaining Letters of Undertaking for making payments to international
vendors. The events necessitated the need for improved security and transparency of transactions
in trade financing. The RBI Innovation Hub, Bengaluru, started a blockchain pilot solution that can
prevent loan fraud (Saikat, 2022). A PoC trial involved prestigious banks such as the State Bank
of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Union Bank of India. The
technology solutions are provided by SettleMint of Belgium, US-based Corda Technologies, and
IBM. The overall objective of this pilot run is to see how Blockchain fits into the Core Banking
System (CBS) of banks in India.

Source: Strategic Intelligence, World Economic Forum (WEF)

Figure 2: Real societal implications of Blockchain technology adoption
 58   Adaptation of Technological Advancement in India

CERTIFICATES GOES DIGITAL

Previously, information regarding SC/ST was collected as part of the census, but information
regarding other castes was not. Self-declaration to the enumerator is the most common way.
Until now, several states’ backward class commissions have conducted their own estimates of the
backward caste population. In order to promote equality and ensure that the right benefits reach the
underserved population, it is critical to capture the correct information and ensure transparency.
The Maharashtra Government began an experimental run of issuing 60,000 caste certificates on
a Blockchain system built by LegitDoc on Polygon POS Blockchain and QR code (Yatti, 2022).
The QR code on the certificate can be scanned and cross-verified on the verification portal. The
implementation is taken up at Gadchiroli, a NITI Aayog aspirational district. The e-governance
project is the first of its kind to be run on a public blockchain network. The system comprises
a sub-division officer who will be the certificate issuer and involve other participants, such as
document holders and verifiers. The system was built over an already established and running
public blockchain network on which data is publicly available and auditable. The project would
have become time-consuming to build had it been built from scratch on a private blockchain.

Source: MSBSD and MSINS

Figure 3: Blockchain-based Digital Certificates
 Recent Trends in Blockchain Adoption in India  59

IIT Kanpur and NIT Rourkela are the first two educational institutions to be offering Blockchain-
based Digital Degrees. These institutions offer hardcopy certificates as well as digital certificates.
The digital certificates are tamper-proof and can be verified easily, thereby drastically reducing the
time required to confirm the originality of a degree certificate. IIT Kanpur introduced this at its 54th
convocation ceremony held in December 2021, while NIT Rourkela implemented this at the 19th
Convocation in August 2022.
The Maharashtra State Board of Skill Development (MSBSD) and Maharashtra State Innovation
Society (MSINS) used the Polygon-LegitDoc platform to issue blockchain-based diplomas.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) expressed interest in implementing
a blockchain-based system for the issue of student results certificates. With this success, many
other Certification agencies and Educational institutions will consider coming forward to issue
Blockchain-based certificates, thereby simplifying the certificate verification system.

TRAI AND BLOCKCHAIN

Even TRAI, a regulator, favors experimenting, testing, and embracing new technologies. It asked
stakeholders to consider DLT and Blockchain adoption to overcome industry shortcomings.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is actively considering using the DLT solution
making it one of the largest adopters of non-cryptocurrency-based blockchain implementations
in India. TRAI implemented a system to handle unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC)
or spam calls from unregistered telemarketers or unsolicited senders. The robust framework and
the experiences drawn are so helpful that telecom companies are ready to use it to implement an
eKYC-based system in other areas, too, once the regulator TRAI allows.

TRACING ADULTERATION OF TEA

Tea is a popular beverage in India, but the quality of tea has degraded over the years because of
adulteration. The Tea Board of India (TBI) considered using Blockchain to trace tea in the entire tea
trade value chain –from the plantation to the end buyer. An Expression of Interest (EoI) is floated
to select a consultancy firm that can help so that the entire value chain of the tea trade can be put on
blockchain and tea becomes traceable.

STARTUPS AND BLOCKCHAIN

Indian startups began to take advantage of the new opportunity arising out of Blockchain. Some
prominent names in this area are:
• Signzy (AI and Blockchain digital banking infrastructure),
• InstaDapp (for its DeFi abilities),
• KoineArth (famous for its Non-Fungible Token (NFT)-based solutions),
• Polygon (formerly called Matic Network; decentralized Ethereum scaling platform),
 60   Adaptation of Technological Advancement in India

• WazirX (cryptocurrency and NFT exchange that got acquired by Binance),

• CoinDCX (crypto investing app that allows investing in 200+ coins in Indian Rupees),
• MindDeft (a blockchain development services company),
• Somish (famous for its Blockchain use-cases)
Some Blockchain startups have turned into unicorns. 5ire became India’s 105th unicorn startup.
It reported $1 billion in revenues, has 350+ paying customers, and was valued at $1.4 billion as of
July 2022.

GOVERNMENT POLICY & REGULATORY AMBIGUITY

Indian financial markets are a well-regulated marketplace. Indian financial sector works under the
broader ambit of the macro-framework (Reddy, 2010), and over the years, the regulatory policy has
been moving towards regulatory governance (Som & Faisal, 2017). Each regulator is free to take
its stand within its jurisdiction.
The National Strategy on Blockchain was announced by the Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology (MeitY) in December 2021. The policy focused on creating trusted
digital platforms through shared Blockchain infrastructure (MeitY, 2021). The national blockchain
framework has a multi-institutional strategy that the ministry has adopted. It includes NIC, NICSI,
and C-DAC for hosting the national-level blockchain infrastructure, providing Blockchain as a
service, and for research and development of the framework. The overall plan is to make the State
Governments create their state-specific blockchain apps on a shared blockchain network.
Some State Governments, such as Maharashtra and Telangana, were active on this front. The
Government of Telangana, together with CoinSwitch and Lumos Labs, started a joint initiative
called India Blockchain Accelerator. They identified 14 early-stage Web3 startups for the final
evaluation of their mentorship and financing program. These startups are expected to provide
blockchain use-cases in various domains (FE Online, 2022).
While the Government and regulators recognize Blockchain as a potentially disruptive
technology, there is a lack of clarity on cryptocurrencies. The media covered the Cryptocurrency
and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021. However, the Bill could not make it during
the 2021 Winter Sessions of the Parliament and was only able to present tax policy in the Union
Budget 2022-23. The CBDT initiative has been spun off the Bill and is allowed to follow its route.
There is neither a legal ban on using cryptocurrencies (or crypto assets) in India nor a regulation
clarity that governs their actual usage. Cryptocurrency exchanges also suffered from a lack of
support from banks and even UPI. During that time, customers could not transfer funds to their
cryptocurrency accounts. Kotak Mahindra Bank, which handled payments for trades of CoinSwitch
Kuber, parted its ways in April 2022, at least temporarily. Only a few days earlier, MobiKwik has
also parted ways. Banks want to distance themselves from cryptocurrency exchanges until clear
regulatory directions on what is and is not allowed are available.
 Recent Trends in Blockchain Adoption in India  61

The Indian taxation system is a deterrent and punitive when investing and speculating crypto
assets. A broad term called – Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) – is used to encompass all forms of
cryptocurrencies within the tax ambit. Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other Virtual Digital Assets
(VDAs) are various Use-Cases of Blockchain. The proposed taxation system in India has placed
cryptocurrency gains under a deterrent tax structure in the Finance Bill 2022. Tax authorities are
seen asking banks and exchanges for transaction logs and even want them to update the Annual
Information Statement (AIS) records. Actor Amitabh Bachchan had to pay Rs. 1.09 crores as Goods
and Services Tax (GST) for the sale of NFTs worth Rs. 7.15 crores. A tax notice was issued by the
Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI). The existing tax systems
involving cryptocurrencies and NFTs are complex and deterrent in nature - more discouraging to
both traders and the cryptoexchanges.
The RBI supported the ban on cryptocurrencies considering they would lead to systemic risk in
the country and “dollarisation of the economy”. The RBI has placed Cryptocurrencies as a General
Risk (medium category) with a score of 4.4 as of May 2022 (RBI, 2022). As a technology, RBI is
keen on issuing Digital Rupee – the CBDC, and facilitating banks and financial institutions to test
the technology in applications such as trade finance (discussed above) and cross-border transaction
time. The CBDC policy will also impact the monetary policy and transmission time. There is little
or no experience in CBDT, even at the global level, but this area will see many developments shortly
(Auer & Böhme, 2020). The academic research literature on this topic is slowly building (Carapella
& Flemming, 2020). RBI Executive Director, in February 2022, hinted that technology choices
are open for them. They opined that the digital rupee need not necessarily be on the Blockchain
and that RBI treading is ‘carefully’ on its CBDC experiment and has not involved any external
agencies; thus far in its development. The RBI has not given any specific deadlines for the roll-out
of the digital rupee but accepted that it will be in line with the March 2023 deadline shared with
Sitharaman.
Shaktikanta Das, the Governor of the RBI, believes that technology-based businesses like
blockchain platforms and decentralized finance (DeFi) require a globally coordinated regulatory
approach (Animesh, 2022). The Indian Finance Minister stressed to “exercise caution” and that it
“will not take a rushed decision” but called upon global coordination for regulating cryptocurrencies
to protect investors. Global coordination is necessary for the sake of compliance required with the
Financial Action Task Force (FATF). FATF works as a coordinated response to prevent organized
crime, corruption, and terrorism. Cryptocurrencies are criticized for being the most preferred payment
source in cases of global crimes. Several countries are struggling with this regulatory ambiguity,
while few successfully took sides and either adopted or partially banned them (Karisma, 2022).
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) began investigating the top ten Indian cryptocurrency
exchanges in August 2022. Bank assets of Wazirx ware froze, and the relationship between Wazirx
and Binance ruptured. The deterrent taxation system and the not-so-accommodative business
environment for cryptocurrency exchanges have made Blockchain in India begin on the wrong
foot, experts believe (Pradipta, 2022) and that the need of the hour is progressive regulation for
crypto assets (Rajesh, 2022).
 62   Adaptation of Technological Advancement in India

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) oversees India’s retail payment and
settlement systems and has begun experimenting with blockchain technology. Vajra is one such
platform it has built (Tarush, 2020). NPCI has already tasted success with its UPI and RuPay
ideas and is heading to the next level of the fight against global leaders such as Visa, MasterCard,
and Amex. The distributed features of Blockchain can ensure near-zero downtime, and NPCI will
benefit from its journey towards the internationalization of its ideas.
The Indian capital market regulator - the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) -
made it clear that all assets cannot be considered securities and that crypto assets are a tokenized
form of assets. Therefore, the tokens issued on those assets also cannot be construed as securities.
SEBI is, however, keen about embracing Blockchain as a technology and has released a few
related regulations. It issued the Operational Guidelines for Security and Covenant Monitoring
using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in March 2022. The regulation is aimed at further
strengthening the process of security creation, monitoring of security created, monitoring of asset
cover and covenants of the non-convertible securities by Debenture Trustee using blockchain
technology (Operational Guidelines for ‘Security and Covenant Monitoring’ Using Distributed
Ledger Technology, 2022).

LACK OF PROFESSIONAL BODY

In mid-July 2022, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) dismantled the Blockchain
and Crypto Assets Council (BACC). BACC was formed in 2017 to represent cryptocurrency
exchanges and startups working in the Blockchain and related space. It has some marquee names
such as WazirX, CoinDCX, CoinSwitch Kuber, and other Blockchain and NFT startups as its
members. The IAMAI was relieved after the Supreme Court of India overturned the RBI’s banking
ban involving funding to cryptocurrencies. The decision to dismantle BACC was taken by IAMAI,
citing non-alignment to the latter’s long-term objectives. IAMAI wants to distance itself from
cryptocurrencies because of the growing conflict between RBI and Cryptocurrency exchanges
and the regulatory ambiguity. RBI clarified cryptocurrencies as a “clear danger” to the country’s
financial stability. Members of BACC will probably be forming a new body of its own soon.
The India Blockchain Alliance (IBA) was established in 2018 and is run by a group of
entrepreneurs. The not-for-profit organization encourages the public and private sectors to adopt
evidence-based Blockchain and DLT implementations. The IBA announced its association with
the Economic Council of India (ECI), intending to expand blockchain technology and various
applications in the MSME industry (IBA, 2022).

ACADEMICS GEAR UP WITH COURSES

Educational institutions in India have begun offering courses on Blockchain to skill up the future
workforce considering promising career opportunities around the technology. IIT Madras began
offering an Advanced Certification Course in software engineering for Blockchain, Cloud, and
 Recent Trends in Blockchain Adoption in India  63

Internet of Things (IoT) in March 2020. IIM Ahmedabad has included Bitcoin and Blockchain topics
as a PGP course elective in the Finance & Accounting stream. IIT Kharagpur launched a 12-week
free online training program, while IIT Kanpur offers a four-month certification program. Apart
from these formal institutions, several informal online edtechs and offline, face-to-face training
institutes have begun offering coding programs to write smart contracts and build distributed apps.
UpGrad has tied up with leading institutions such as IIIT Bangalore, Purdue University, Liverpool
John Moores University, and California Institute of Technology (CalTech). Few formal institutions
also tied up with edtechs for other training formats such as boot camps. A 138% increase in learners
was reported on Edtech platforms from March 2021 to March 2022 (Vikram, 2022). Unlike
other technology courses aimed at bridging the skill gap of already qualified software engineers,
blockchain courses are seeing interest for 12-month and 18-month Masters’ programs. Blockchain is
peering up with other technologies such as Metaverse and Web 3.0 as a course offering considering
the future potential of these technology trio. More institutions across all industries/sectors have to
come forward to explore how all can best absorb the technology advantages.

CONCLUSION
India is a highly populous country, has a rich technology talent pool, and is home to some of the
best startups working in emerging and disruptive technologies such as Blockchain, Metaverse, and
Web 3.0. Governments love to ‘maximize governance, minimize government,’ and Blockchain is
crucial in facilitating such an agenda. Thanks to the Blockchain strategy, the technology is poised
for faster adoption in the country. Society is beginning to reap some of the early benefits from the
public adoption put in place so far. Regulators are considering using Blockchain and/or Distributed
Ledger Technology (DLT). However, cryptocurrencies in India, like in many other countries in
world, face regulatory ambiguity. The transactions involving cryptocurrency as a trading/investing
asset have to face a tax burden that demotivates their usage. The industry lacks a representative
body to take up the issues they face and take the blockchain agenda forward. More academic
institutions should start offering technology courses and programs to penetrate awareness levels.
India will be able to make more Blockchain professionals when more academic institutions come
forward with formal and informal courses and training programs.

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