Is Giottus Safe and Legal in India? FIU Status and Fees
Yes. Giottus is FIU-IND registered (VA00030979, entry 5 of 54) with no hack on record. Its fees, INR rails and the custody terms to read first.
Yes, Giottus is legal in India. Its operator, Giottus Technologies Pvt Ltd, is registered with FIU-IND (registration VA00030979) and is entry 5 on the government's list of 54 registered VDA service providers tabled in the Lok Sabha on 30 March 2026. It is a reasonably safe choice by Indian standards, with no hack or FIU-IND penalty on record, but its terms allow it to use the coins you keep with it, so treat it as a place to trade rather than a vault.
Key takeaways
- Giottus Technologies Pvt Ltd, a Chennai company, holds FIU-IND registration VA00030979 and is No. 5 on the official list of 54 registered platforms as of 9 March 2026.
- It is not among the 53 offshore platforms whose apps and websites FIU-IND directed to be taken down. We found no hack, penalty or blocking order against it.
- Rupee deposits by UPI, IMPS and NEFT are free, and instant IMPS withdrawals up to ₹2 lakh are free. The minimum withdrawal is ₹500.
- Its fee page lists 0.40% on INR pairs at the regular tier plus 18% GST, while Giottus also advertises zero-fee INR trading. Check the fee on the order screen.
- Its terms say it may lend, stake or pledge customer assets, and that users rank as unsecured creditors if it ever fails. Keep long-term coins in your own wallet.
- We rank Giottus second of the 12 Indian apps we score, at 8.2/10.
Giottus in India at a glance (3 October 2026)
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who runs it? | Giottus Technologies Pvt Ltd, registered office in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai |
| Registered with FIU-IND? | Yes, registration VA00030979 (stated in its terms) |
| On the Lok Sabha list of 54? | Yes, entry 5, status "registered" |
| On the takedown list of 53? | No |
| Founded | 2017, by Vikram Subburaj (CEO) and Arjun Vijay |
| Rupee deposits | UPI and IMPS (instant), IMPS and NEFT (normal); no fee; minimum ₹100 |
| Rupee withdrawals | Instant IMPS up to ₹2 lakh; no fee; minimum ₹500 |
| TDS | Deducted by Giottus on sales and paid to the government |
| Our score | 8.2/10, rank 2 of 12 |
Is Giottus legal in India?
Crypto is not banned in India. It is not legal tender, but buying, selling and holding it is allowed, and the government taxes it and regulates the platforms for anti-money-laundering. Since a Finance Ministry notification of 7 March 2023, every platform that exchanges, transfers or holds crypto for Indian users must register with the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) as a reporting entity under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Our guide to whether cryptocurrency is legal in India covers the wider rules.
Giottus meets that requirement. On 30 March 2026 the Minister of State for Finance answered Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5805 with Annexure-I, a list of the 54 VDA service providers registered with FIU-IND as of 9 March 2026. Giottus Technologies Pvt Ltd, trade name Giottus, is entry 5, with no note that it has stopped operating. Annexure-II of the same answer names 53 offshore platforms whose apps and URLs FIU-IND directed to be taken down; Giottus is not one of them. Our FIU-registered crypto exchanges list reproduces the full official table.
Registration is an anti-money-laundering duty, not a licence. Giottus's own terms say so plainly: registration with FIU-IND "is not a licence, authorisation, approval or endorsement". The RBI does not license crypto exchanges at all, so any app that claims to be "RBI approved" is misleading you, as our page on the RBI-approved crypto exchange myth explains.
Who runs Giottus?
Giottus was set up in Chennai in 2017 by Vikram Subburaj, its chief executive, and Arjun Vijay. It has grown as a rupee-first exchange with support in several Indian languages, and said it had about 1.2 million customers when it launched perpetual futures in August 2025. Its terms list spot trading, instant buy and sell, an OTC desk, fixed rewards, staking and perpetual futures.
The practical point is who you would deal with in a dispute. Your contract is with an Indian company whose terms are governed by Indian law, with courts in Chennai named for claims, and which publishes a grievance officer for complaints. That is a real advantage over an offshore platform with no Indian entity, where a complaint may go nowhere.
Has Giottus been hacked, penalised or blocked?
We found no hack of Giottus since it started in 2017, no FIU-IND penalty order and no blocking notice. Three things are still worth knowing:
- Proof of reserves: Giottus pledged to publish proof of reserves in 2022, but we could not find a current report on its website. If this matters to you, ask support for one in writing.
- Delistings: in July 2025 Giottus delisted 11 small tokens. Crypto withdrawals for them closed on 15 July 2025, and balances left after 5 pm IST on 16 July were converted to rupees at market value. Small coins can disappear from any exchange, so check notices if you hold them.
- Withdrawal limits: since January 2023 Giottus has set crypto and rupee withdrawal limits by KYC level, and its compliance team can change an individual's limit.
How Giottus holds your money
This is the part most users never read, and it matters more than the licence question. Giottus is a custodial exchange. Here is what its user terms say and what that means in practice:
| What the terms say | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Coins are held in pooled (omnibus) wallets and Giottus controls the private keys | You own a claim on Giottus, not specific coins on the blockchain |
| Giottus may use customer assets for liquidity provision, market-making, proprietary trading, collateral, staking, pledging, lending or investment | Your coins may not sit idle; if a borrower or trade fails, that risk is in the system |
| In an insolvency, users rank as unsecured creditors | If Giottus failed, you would queue with other creditors rather than get your coins back first |
| Liability is capped at the fees you paid in the six months before an event | For most users that cap is small next to their balance |
| Rupee withdrawals are processed within 7 working days, and retrieval from offline storage may delay crypto withdrawals | Do not keep money there that you may need the same day |
| Deposits or withdrawals may be delayed or suspended if a banking partner restricts or freezes service | Bank freezes are a known risk for every Indian exchange |
None of this is unusual for a centralised exchange, and most Indian platforms use similar wording. It is the reason to keep only trading money on any exchange. Our guide to what happens to your crypto if an exchange shuts down walks through the insolvency risk, and our hot vs cold wallet guide explains where to move long-term holdings.
Giottus fees and INR deposit and withdrawal options
Moving rupees in and out is free, which is Giottus's strongest point. These figures come from its fee page and its INR guide:
| Method | Speed | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Instant deposit (UPI, IMPS) | Within seconds, 24x7 | Zero |
| Normal deposit (IMPS, NEFT) | About 2 hours, between 10 am and 11 pm | Zero |
| Instant withdrawal (IMPS, up to ₹2 lakh) | Within seconds, 24x7 | Zero |
| Minimums | ₹100 deposit, ₹500 withdrawal | Not applicable |
Trading fees are less clear. The published fee page lists a tiered scale on INR pairs, based on your 30-day volume, plus 18% GST on the fee:
| Tier | 30-day volume | Maker and taker fee |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | Up to ₹5 lakh | 0.40% |
| VIP 1 | ₹5 lakh to ₹20 lakh | 0.35% |
| VIP 3 | ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore | 0.20% |
| VIP 6 | Above ₹10 crore | 0.05% |
At the regular tier, a ₹1,00,000 buy would cost ₹400 in fees plus ₹72 GST, or ₹472. But Giottus announced zero-fee trading on all crypto-INR pairs in October 2023, and its zero-fee FAQ, updated in November 2025, still describes it. Look at the fee shown before you confirm an order. Crypto-to-crypto pairs carry a 0.30% taker fee, futures start at 0.018% maker and 0.048% taker, and crypto withdrawals carry a per-coin network fee. The full breakdown is in our Giottus review, and our lowest-fee crypto exchange guide compares it with other apps.
TDS and tax on Giottus trades
Giottus deducts the 1% TDS on crypto sales and pays it to the government for you. That TDS is a prepayment, not the full bill. Under the rules introduced as Section 115BBH, gains are taxed at a flat 30% plus 4% cess, only the cost of acquisition can be deducted, and losses cannot be set off against other income or carried forward. You report every trade in Schedule VDA of your return.
| Example: one sale on Giottus | Amount |
|---|---|
| You buy Ether for | ₹50,000 |
| You sell it later for | ₹80,000 |
| TDS deducted by Giottus (1% of the sale value) | ₹800 |
| Tax on the ₹30,000 gain (30% plus 4% cess) | ₹9,360 |
| Left to pay when you file, after the TDS credit | ₹8,560 |
Check that each deduction appears in your Form 26AS and AIS; our guide on checking crypto TDS in Form 26AS and AIS shows where. The full rules are in our crypto tax in India guide.
What this means for you
- Using Giottus is legal. You are dealing with an Indian company that appears on the government's own list of registered platforms.
- Safety depends on how you use it. Buy and sell on Giottus, then move coins you plan to hold for months to a wallet you control, which Giottus allows.
- Test before you trust. Make a small rupee withdrawal first and see how fast it lands. Our guide to withdrawing crypto to your bank account covers the steps.
- Check the fee each time. Because the fee page and the zero-fee promise differ, the order screen is the only reliable figure.
- Keep your records. Download your trade history each year for Schedule VDA.
How to check any Indian crypto exchange
- Find the legal company name and FIU-IND registration number (it starts with "VA") in the terms or compliance page.
- Match the company against the official list of 54 on our FIU-registered exchanges page. FIU-IND does not publish its register online.
- Make sure the platform is not one of the 53 offshore names directed for takedown, and search for FIU-IND penalty orders.
- Read the custody section of the terms: who holds the keys, whether your coins can be lent out, and where you rank if it fails.
- Confirm it asks for your PAN and deducts 1% TDS on sales.
- Download the app only from the official store listing and switch on two-factor authentication.
How Giottus compares
We score exchanges ourselves; no platform pays for its rank. Here is Giottus next to other names Indians ask about, with each one's place on the official lists.
| Platform | Our score | Official status | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoinDCX | 8.4/10 (#1) | Registered, entry 1 | Is CoinDCX safe? |
| Giottus | 8.2/10 (#2) | Registered, entry 5 | This page |
| Unocoin | 6.5/10 (#12) | Registered, entry 3 | Is Unocoin safe? |
| Bitbns | Not ranked | Registered, entry 6 | Is Bitbns safe? |
| WazirX | 7.0/10 (#10) | Registered, entry 8 | Is WazirX safe? |
| Binance | 7.5/10 (#6) | Registered, entry 47, after takedown action | Is Binance legal? |
| Kraken | Not ranked | Not registered; takedown list entry 4 | Is Kraken legal? |
| Gate.io | Not ranked | Not registered; takedown list entry 5 | Is Gate.io legal? |
Registration did not stop losses at WazirX in 2024, which is why custody and track record matter as much as the licence. The full ranking is in our best crypto apps in India guide.
FAQ
Is Giottus FIU registered?
Yes. Giottus Technologies Pvt Ltd holds FIU-IND registration VA00030979 and is entry 5 on the list of 54 registered VDA service providers tabled in the Lok Sabha on 30 March 2026.
Is Giottus safe for Indian users?
It has no hack, FIU-IND penalty or blocking order on record since 2017. Its terms let it use customer assets and make users unsecured creditors in an insolvency, so keep only trading money on it.
Is Giottus an Indian company?
Yes. It is run by Giottus Technologies Pvt Ltd, incorporated in 2017 with its registered office in Chennai, and its terms are governed by Indian law.
Is Giottus RBI approved?
No, and no crypto exchange is. The RBI does not license crypto platforms; the registration that applies is with FIU-IND for anti-money-laundering.
Does Giottus charge for INR withdrawals?
No. Rupee deposits and withdrawals are free, instant IMPS withdrawals go up to ₹2 lakh, and the minimum withdrawal is ₹500.
Does Giottus deduct TDS?
Yes, it deducts 1% TDS on crypto sales. You still owe 30% tax plus 4% cess on any gain, and the TDS counts towards that bill.
This article is AI-assisted, educational and general in nature. It is not financial advice and never a guarantee of profit. Every trade is at your own risk on your own exchange. See our risk disclosure and editorial policy.
