In the Finance Bill 2025, Finance Minister of India gives legal backing to govt accessing digital assets [1].
> Under the new framework of the Finance Bill 2025, tax officials can access encrypted communications, cloud storage, and digital asset exchanges if they believe a person has concealed taxable income or cryptocurrency holdings.
> The new tax bill allows officials to access communication platforms like emails, WhatsApp, and Telegram, as well as enterprise software and storage servers businesses use to conceal financial transactions. "Gathering evidence from digital accounts is essential not only to prove tax evasion before a court of law but also to compute the exact amount of tax evaded,'' said the FM.
The Indian government has always faced the challenge of striking a tight balance between individual privacy and national security. Now, in the current digital age, this proposed bill has the potential to violate personal rights and set a dangerous precedent for mass surveillance in India. The final outcome could have ramifications for civil liberties, digital privacy regulations, and encryption standards worldwide [2].
> FM Sitharaman highlighted that digital forensics played a crucial role in unearthing unaccounted money. "Encrypted messages on mobile phones led to unearthing ₹250 crore unaccounted money. Evidence of crypto assets has been detected in WhatsApp messages. WhatsApp communication helped unearth ₹200 crore unaccounted money," said FM Sitharaman on the new bill.
It is not known exactly how WhatsApp communications revealed details about crypto asset transactions, helping unearth ₹200 crore of the total ₹250 crore. Was E2EE compromised? What role did Meta play in this case?
Indian authorities likely obtained the messages directly from the suspects' devices during raids, bypassing the need for Meta to decrypt or provide the data. There’s no public indication that Meta was compelled to assist or provide backdoor access in this specific case.
1. https://www.livemint.com/economy/finance-bill-2025-will-the-new-income-tax-bill-give-govt-access-to-your-encrypted-whatsapp-chats-11742979996747.html
2. https://cyberexperts.com/whatsapp-encryption-threatened-indias-income-tax-bill-sparks-debate/
