Tether’s USDT stablecoin is trading well above its usual value on Indian crypto exchanges. The premium climbed to between 7% and 10% over the weekend.
JUST IN: In India, a digital dollar now costs more than a real one. USDT, the token built to equal one US dollar, trades at 102.88 rupees on Indian exchanges. The official dollar is 94.65. Indians are paying an 8.5 percent premium for a dollar, because their government just… pic.twitter.com/JPMpaDJtCq
— Shanaka Anslem Perera
(@shanaka86) June 29, 2026
At one point, USDT changed hands at 102.88 rupees. The official dollar to rupee rate was around 94.65 at the time.
That gap is known as the USDT premium. It represents the extra amount buyers pay for dollar exposure through USDT instead of through a bank.
Under normal conditions, this premium sits between 3% and 4%. The recent jump is more than double that typical range.
CoinDCX executive Minal Thukral said the price reflects local order-book depth compared to the global dollar reference price. He said India has long been a net buyer of crypto, which means demand often outpaces available supply.
When sellers are thin near the global price, the local market settles at a higher number. Thukral described the premium as a signal of how costly or slow it is for liquidity providers to refill supply.
CoinSwitch co-founder Ashish Singhal gave a similar explanation. He said exchanges do not set the price of USDT directly.
Instead, prices come from buyers and sellers trading on the platform. Singhal noted that stablecoin premiums have appeared in other countries during periods of high demand or tight liquidity.
On CoinSwitch specifically, USDT traded at close to a 9% premium over recent days. Singhal said users see live buy and sell prices before placing any order, and the platform does not add hidden fees beyond its stated brokerage charge.
The price spike followed action from India’s Enforcement Directorate connected to USDT payments. Neither CoinDCX nor CoinSwitch directly addressed this action in their statements.
However, market makers may have pulled back from sourcing USDT overseas after the enforcement news. That kind of pullback would show up as a supply-side shortage, which matches the explanation both exchanges gave.
India also applies a flat 30% tax on crypto gains. There is no option to offset losses against gains.
A 1% tax is deducted at the source on transactions. These rules have made it harder for market makers to operate smoothly on Indian exchanges.
India also limits how much foreign currency residents can purchase through traditional channels. This makes stablecoins a simpler option for people seeking dollar exposure.
When dollar demand rises under these conditions, it can quickly outpace the supply of tokens available locally. That imbalance is what pushes the premium higher.
USDT remains the largest dollar-pegged stablecoin in the world. Its market cap stood at $184.68 billion at the time of reporting.
India has ranked first in global crypto adoption for three years running, according to Chainalysis data. USDT plays a central role for traders in that market who use it to move between positions and hold dollar value without going through banks.
As of the latest reports, the premium remains elevated between 7% and 10% across multiple Indian exchanges, with the gap yet to narrow back toward its usual 3% to 4% range.
The post Why Is USDT Suddenly More Expensive in India? appeared first on CoinCentral.
