Polymarket, the world’s largest decentralized prediction market platform, has gone inaccessible for users in India, while reports suggest that Kalshi may soon face similar restrictions.
Attempts to open Polymarket from India now display a “This site can’t be reached” error, with users reporting that repeated refreshes do not resolve the issue—indicating a likely network-level block rather than a technical outage.
The disruption comes shortly after an April 25 advisory from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), which urged VPN service providers to prevent access to “illegal and blocked prediction market and online betting platforms.” The advisory noted that users were still managing to bypass restrictions and access such platforms despite domestic bans.
Following this directive, internet service providers were instructed to restrict access to prediction markets, with Polymarket reportedly identified as one of the key platforms targeted under enforcement.
Kalshi, a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated prediction market, remains accessible in India for now. However, local media reports citing a MeitY source claim that regulators have already moved to block Polymarket and are preparing a similar order against Kalshi in the near future, possibly within days.
Prediction markets let users speculate on the outcomes of real-world events such as elections, financial prices, and referendums. These platforms saw a surge in global activity during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, where they became popular tools for hedging political and macroeconomic risk.
In India, authorities categorize such services as online money gaming, placing them under restrictions outlined in the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, effectively banning their operation in the country.
The Indian government has maintained a restrictive stance on cryptocurrencies and related financial innovations, prioritizing regulatory oversight and capital controls. It has also imposed a 30% tax on crypto gains and a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on transactions, measures widely seen as dampening domestic trading volumes.
Oversight has further intensified through Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CFT) compliance frameworks enforced via the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). This regulatory environment has pushed several crypto firms to relocate to jurisdictions such as Dubai and Singapore, as India continues to treat much of the sector as speculative rather than a formal financial innovation space.
Separately, India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance recently held discussions in Delhi with major crypto exchanges including Binance, WazirX, and ZebPay on May 20, focusing on taxation and regulation of the virtual digital assets (VDA) ecosystem.
The committee also flagged concerns over significant capital outflows from India through crypto-related channels.
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