Crypto investment platform Coinswitch plans foray into Indian stocks trading

Ashish Singhal, Co-founder and CEO, CoinSwitch.

Cryptocurrency investment platform Coinswitch is exploring options to enter in to Indian stocks trading and compete with new age technology-driven brokerage firms such as Zerodha, Groww, Upstox, and Paytm Money.

In December 2022, Ashish Singhal, the co-founder and CEO of Coinswitch, in an interview with Moneycontrol, mentioned the company would launch at least seven new products by the end of next year, including fixed deposits, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stocks, and mutual funds.

The company wants to foray into other areas because cryptocurrencies, have taken a hit in the last few years. However, the price of bitcoin has recovered in the last six months, it is still half of its peak rate registered in November 2021.

Also Read: We will have seven new products by the end of next year, including FDs, ETFs, and mutual funds: CoinSwitch's Ashish Singhal

New strategy

“The company is planning to apply for a stockbroker licence with Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India)…there are also conversations ongoing with non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and banks for offering fixed deposits,” a person with knowledge of the matter told the Economic Times.

The Bengaluru-based company has changed its strategy and turned its focus on Indian stocks because its plan to provide trading and investment in US stocks got delayed after the Budget 2023 increased the tax collected at source (TCS) for foreign remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) for retail investors investing in US equity instruments.

The financial daily quoted Singhal as saying, “Our ambition is to become a full-fledged wealth tech platform. To that end, we have several products in our pipeline. . . As for the specific matter of applying to Sebi for a stockbroker’s licence, we will share details when we announce our new products."

The company is aiming to unveil these products by the end of this financial year.

“This initial focus has provided us with a strong foundation to expand into other asset classes, and to become India’s go-to wealth-tech destination,” he added.