Spot crypto and holding crypto are lawful in India — the state taxes gains on virtual digital assets and licenses nothing, so the activity is permitted but sits outside any prudential regulator. Crypto is not legal tender.
Leveraged derivatives are the separate and harder question: no Indian exchange lists crypto perpetuals or CFDs, no regulator supervises them, and the Ministry of Finance says plainly that crypto products are unregulated and may leave no recourse; several of the offshore venues FIU-IND moved against in October 2025 were perp or margin exchanges, cited for missing AML registration. Retail foreign-exchange margin trading through overseas internet portals is separately prohibited under FEMA.
The contract itself does not change by geography: a PUMP perpetual settles in USDC everywhere.
12 venues open Pump.fun perps to traders in India.
ApeX
Aster
Avantis
Ethereal
gTrade
Helix
Hyperliquid
Lighter
Paradex
SynthetixFour steps from sign-up to an open position.
30% on income from the transfer of a virtual digital asset, with no deduction other than cost of acquisition and no set-off or carry-forward of losses, plus 1% TDS under section 194S on payment for a transfer to a resident.
Trading PUMP from India: regulated.
30% on income from the transfer of a virtual digital asset, with no deduction other than cost of acquisition and no set-off or carry-forward of losses, plus 1% TDS under section 194S on payment for a transfer to a resident.
India traders can fund Pump.fun positions using UPI, IMPS/NEFT/RTGS bank transfer and USDT P2P.
18 platforms serve India for Pump.fun trading, among them Aevo, ApeX and Aster.