Business
We are creating a simplified investing ecosystem: Crypto unicorn CoinSwitch
Crypto is an emerging yet attractive asset class. It is a $1.25 trillion market globally. The India adoption story is no different with nearly 20 million unique users, over $6.6 billion in investments and more than a billion dollars in venture capital funding.
India is already the second-largest in terms of crypto adoption globally.
Crypto in India has come a long way but this is just the beginning — Crypto is a billion people industry in the making.
Govind Soni, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, CoinSwitch, India’s largest crypto investing app, told IANS that their priority is to make it transparent, trustworthy and secure, and enable Indians to participate in this technology shift in a meaningful way.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: Why is Crypto important, and how can India benefit from it?
A: Crypto is the gateway to a decentralised internet. The computing power of the billions of devices around the world can be utilised and incentivised using Crypto to build a new internet, called Web3.
India has the opportunity to take the lead in this transformation. We have the talent, users and the startup ecosystem. And we are witnessing an upskilling and migration of India’s large pool of engineers and developers to the cutting-edge and advanced field of blockchain and crypto.
All this puts India in a sweet spot. With an enabling regulatory environment, India can get a headstart and steer the direction of Web3 while it is built.
Q: Crypto has come a long way. Every day we hear news that even Wall Street giants are adopting Crypto. Why is that?
A: Institutional adoption is a sign that Crypto has well and truly grown beyond white papers to be a smart investment class. The origin of Crypto may have been based on an idea of a digital currency, but now it has evolved to become an attractive, emerging asset class.
There are several interesting use-cases being built on this technology. That is the intrinsic value of Crypto: The confidence and uptake of the underlying blockchain technology. Institutional investors understand this and have done their due diligence.
While retail investors continue to be the early adopters and torchbearers of Cryptos, growing institutional adoption underlines the fact that this is an asset class that is here to stay.
Even traditional markets are adopting and gaining exposure to Cryptos. All of this bodes well for the growth of the asset class.
Q: What about India? There is regulatory uncertainty on Crypto here. Do you see this changing and Crypto becoming a mainstream asset class here?
A: Certainly. Cryptos are an emerging asset class that speak to India’s digital-savvy population.
With regulatory clarity, institutional investors too will find the confidence to invest in and benefit from Cryptos.
As we have seen globally, Cryptos can attract significant institutional and foreign investments if regulations can enable innovations and provide the necessary guardrails. India can benefit similarly.
Innovations such as decentralised finance, or DeFi, can be an effective and fast enabler of capital for small and medium-scale businesses in India. Crypto is also paving the way for interesting applications such as decentralized social media that Indians can greatly benefit from.
Q: How is CoinSwitch protecting investors on its platform?
A: At CoinSwitch, investor protection is of utmost importance to us. While we have been using various digital platforms to inform, educate and engage with new crypto enthusiasts, we are continuously updating our app to help users make informed investing decisions.
And, numbers tell the story. The average time a user spends on our app reading, buying, selling, or trading has gone up to 27 minutes from 13 minutes in January 2021.
In line with our ongoing product feature upgrades to tighten platform security, we have launched Riskometer — our attempt to help users think twice before investing in a coin. The Riskometer provides a risk warning on coins that are highly volatile, or when the risk assessment suggests that users need to proceed with caution while investing.
We understand that ensuring compliance with relevant regulations is key to ensuring a safe, secure, and trustworthy user experience. Users on our platform can utilise their account balances (of Indian Rupees and crypto assets) to only transact on our platform or withdraw Indian Rupees. They can only deposit Indian Rupees from their verified bank account. Similarly, after selling crypto assets, users can withdraw Indian Rupees only to their verified bank account.
Q: What does cloud technology enable you to do better?
A: Amazon Web Services (AWS) allows to scale up on infrastructure and services without having any dependencies, or minimum usage commitments. AWS continues to make incremental improvements to its solutions and services, allowing us to easily deliver value to our customers. If we had to build these capabilities on our own it would have taken us significantly longer. With the shared responsibility model, security of the cloud is addressed by AWS and this helps us considerably reduce our efforts towards security and compliance. AWS account team and Enterprise Support provides proactive guidance and support as we scale our platforms. AWS is the easy answer for any internet-based ecosystem that wants to scale faster.
CoinSwitch is trusted by over 18 million registered users, making it the largest crypto investing app in India. Ours is a built-to-scale platform developed on top of AWS. Among a host of things, AWS has improved our time to market, handle spikes in traffic, and manage risks more efficiently. All of these put together help us provide a simplified and secure user experience on the app.
Business
India world’s 2nd-largest single country contributor to global construction growth

Mumbai, June 9: India has emerged as the second-largest single country contributor to global construction growth between 2020 and 2030, according to a new report released on Tuesday.
The report from Foundamental, a Berlin-based venture capital firm, said that India and China together account for nearly 40 per cent of global construction growth over the period.
Global capital expenditure is becoming increasingly concentrated in five countries: India, China, the United States, Germany and France, it said.
“India accounts for the second-largest share of global construction growth by volume between 2020 and 2030, at 14.1 per cent, behind only China at 26.1 per cent and ahead of the United States at 11.1 per cent,” said Shubhankar Bhattacharya, Co-Founder and General Partner at Foundamental.
Global construction spending reached $15.97 trillion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $19.86 trillion by 2028, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6 per cent.
Within that total, infrastructure is the fastest-growing major construction segment globally, expanding at a CAGR of 5.1 per cent between 2020 and 2025.
In India, the pace is markedly higher: the country’s infrastructure market is forecast to grow at around 8 per cent annually through the end of the decade, well above the global rate.
The report also notes that global gross fixed capital formation has grown roughly 30-fold since 1960, with that investment becoming increasingly concentrated among a handful of major economies.
“Global construction spending has already surpassed previous forecasts and is creating new opportunities across infrastructure, industrial facilities, energy systems, transportation networks and digital infrastructure,” said Bhattacharya.
The report forecasts the global data centre construction market will double by 2030 compared with 2018 levels, driven by artificial intelligence and cloud computing, making data centre infrastructure one of the fastest-growing construction segments through 2030. “Data centre construction could add between 10 per cent and 15 per cent to the global construction market by 2030,” said Bhattacharya.
The report said India is positioned to benefit from multiple long-term growth trends at once, including infrastructure expansion, industrial development, the energy transition, digital transformation and urbanisation.
Business
Indian equity markets trade higher as Iran-Israel tensions ease

Mumbai, June 9: Indian equities traded higher on Tuesday in the morning trade, supported by improving sentiment after signs of a pause in hostilities between Iran and Israel.
Sensex rose as much as 0.7 per cent or over 500 points to hit an intraday high of 74,035.41 in early trade, while Nifty gained 0.6 per cent or more than 100 points to touch 23,259.45.
On the sectoral front, Nifty MidSmall Financial Services emerged as the top gainer, rising over 1 per cent, followed by Nifty Realty, which also advanced more than 1 per cent. Nifty Auto climbed 0.9 per cent. Banking stocks traded higher as well, with the PSU Bank and Private Bank indices gaining up to 0.8 per cent.
Category-wise, microcap, midcap and smallcap indices outperformed the benchmarks. Nifty Microcap 250 rose more than 1 per cent, while Nifty Midcap 50, Midcap 100 and Midcap 150 gained up to nearly 1 per cent.
Market volatility eased, with India VIX declining more than 4 per cent to around 16.
According to market experts, the decline in Brent crude prices to below $94 per barrel is positive for Indian equities. They, however, cautioned that there is no certainty that the fragile peace between Iran and Israel will hold.
A US federal judge striking down President Donald Trump’s H-1B visa fee hike is also a mild positive for Indian IT stocks, experts said.
“The bulls are too weak to stage a strong comeback, while the bears remain strong enough to press selling on rallies. The sustained selling by FIIs shows no sign of fatigue. Large-cap valuations are fair and, in segments like banking, attractive, largely due to FII selling,” analysts said.
However, elevated volatility and lingering global uncertainty are expected to keep traders cautious in the near term, they added.
Meanwhile, Iran and Israel said they had paused military strikes against each other following an appeal by U.S. President Donald Trump for an immediate de-escalation. However, Tehran warned that it would resume attacks if Israel continued targeting Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.
Crude oil prices traded lower, with international benchmark Brent crude declining about 1 per cent to $93 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell around 1 per cent to $90 per barrel.
Asian markets traded largely in positive territory, with Japan’s Nikkei rising more than 1 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI surging nearly 5 per cent. Other major regional indices were also trading higher.
In the US, Wall Street ended in green overnight, with the S&P 500 closing 0.3 per cent higher and the Nasdaq settling nearly 1 per cent higher.
Business
Sensex, Nifty trade muted in early deals amid mixed global cues

Mumbai, May 27: Domestic equity markets traded on a muted note in early deals on Wednesday amid mixed global cues and a decline in crude oil prices.
Sensex was trading at 76,050, up 40 points or 0.05 per cent in the morning session, while Nifty rose 20 points or 0.08 per cent to 23,932. Earlier, the benchmark indices opened at 75,939.86 and 23,880.35, respectively.
Among sectoral indices, Nifty Metal emerged as the top gainer, climbing 1.59 per cent, followed by Nifty Cement, which advanced 0.83 per cent. Nifty Media, Realty and Consumer Durables also traded higher, rising up to 0.67 per cent.
On the other hand, Nifty Oil & Gas was the top loser, falling 0.66 per cent. While private banks, financial services and IT indices also traded in the red, declining up to 0.33 per cent.
Among Nifty stocks, selling pressure was visible in select heavyweight counters, with Coal India dropping over 4 per cent and ONGC slipping nearly 3 per cent. HDFC Bank, Infosys and Wipro also remained under pressure.
Meanwhile, the volatility index India VIX gained 0.68 per cent to trade around 16.
According to analysts, the near-term market tone remains cautious but stable, as recent profit booking at higher levels indicates some consolidation after the sharp recovery phase.
“Despite intermittent weakness, controlled volatility and balanced market breadth suggest that broader sentiment has not deteriorated significantly,” they added.
Meanwhile, Iran on Tuesday accused the United States of violating the ceasefire by carrying out strikes near the disputed Strait of Hormuz, while Washington maintained that the attacks were defensive in nature.
In the commodity market, crude oil prices declined, with international benchmark Brent crude falling 1.73 per cent to $97.85 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped over 2 per cent to $91.87 per barrel.
In Asia, markets traded mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined nearly 1 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s KOSPI rose up to almost 5 per cent.
Overnight in the US, Wall Street ended higher, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.61 per cent and the Nasdaq closing 1.19 per cent higher.
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