Coinbase is back in India. And this time, it brought actual banking infrastructure.
The exchange launched direct INR deposit and withdrawal rails on June 1, allowing Indian users to move money between their bank accounts and Coinbase without relying on peer-to-peer intermediaries. The integration uses India’s Immediate Payment Service, or IMPS, a real-time interbank transfer system that sidesteps the UPI headaches that torpedoed Coinbase’s first attempt at cracking this market.
The announcement, made on May 31, represents a genuine strategic pivot for a company that tried to enter India in 2022 with UPI integration, watched that effort collapse, and then pulled out of the country entirely in 2023.
What Indian users actually get
Indian traders now have access to spot trading, perpetual futures on major assets, and Coinbase Advanced tools. There are dedicated local INR order books, which means Indian users aren’t routing through USD pairs and eating conversion losses on every trade.
