India should mine BTC, not import gold, to stem dollar outflow, says entrepreneur

India should foster domestic Bitcoin mining as a strategic alternative to relying on gold import curbs to defend the rupee, argued Kashif Raza, founder of the crypto education platform Bitinning. According to BeInCrypto, Raza noted that India's annual gold production of around one and a half tons is dwarfed by its imports of 700 to 720 tons, which causes a significant dollar outflow. He explained that Bitcoin, unlike gold, can be produced domestically. Raza suggested a model where locally mined BTC is supplied to domestic exchanges for retail investors, with any surplus exported to generate dollar inflows. While India has not banned crypto mining, it maintains a stringent tax regime, imposing a 30% tax on crypto profits and a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on most transactions.