Which Indian Companies
Hold Bitcoin on Their
Balance Sheet?

The State of Play — India vs The World

When Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy — now rebranded as Strategy Inc. — announced it was putting its entire corporate treasury into Bitcoin back in 2020, most people thought he’d lost his mind. As of May 2026, Strategy holds over 628,000 Bitcoin worth more than $70 billion. Its stock has outperformed Nvidia, Tesla, and Microsoft over that period. The playbook worked.

The corporate Bitcoin wave it started has gone global. Japan’s Metaplanet holds thousands of BTC. Brazil’s Méliuz became its country’s first Bitcoin treasury company. Sweden, Hong Kong, and France all have publicly listed Bitcoin-holding companies. Even GameStop — the meme stock — bought more than $500 million worth of Bitcoin in 2025.

And India? India has exactly one publicly listed company with confirmed Bitcoin on its balance sheet. One. A 77-year-old IT training firm from Mumbai with annual revenues of ₹28 crore — roughly the size of a medium-tier Indian coaching institute.

The contrast is striking. And understanding why this gap exists — why Indian companies are effectively blocked from doing what companies in 20+ other countries are doing freely — is one of the most important corporate finance stories in India right now.

Let’s start with the company that actually did it.

Jetking Infotrain — India’s Only Bitcoin Company

Here’s what makes Jetking’s story genuinely remarkable: it wasn’t a startup trying to ride a trend. This was a company incorporated in 1947 — the same year India became independent — quietly reinventing its financial identity. In a response to BSE’s query about its share price movement in December 2024, Jetking disclosed that it had been investing in Virtual Digital Assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum since 2022, well before the formal announcement. The December 2024 move was the public formalisation of a strategy already in motion.

The market responded enthusiastically at first. Jetking’s stock surged over 135% in three months after the announcement, hitting upper circuits for 13 consecutive trading days. The stock’s 52-week high reached ₹400.25 — a remarkable run for a company that had been operating quietly in the IT training space for decades.

Then the regulatory machinery caught up.

The Full Timeline — From First BTC to SAT Ruling

1. Silent Start — Bitcoin Purchases Begin

   Jetking quietly begins purchasing Bitcoin and Ethereum as part of treasury diversification. The financial statements for FY2023-24 later reveal ₹3.27 crore invested in 5.42 Bitcoin units and ₹2.25 crore in 71.98 Ethereum units. No public announcement at this stage.

   First Crypto Purchases

2. Shareholders Approve MoA Amendment

   At its Annual General Meeting in September 2024, shareholders formally approve an amendment to Jetking’s Memorandum of Association to allow the company to invest in, acquire, hold, sell, trade and deal in Virtual Digital Assets. The Registrar of Companies approves this amendment in November 2024.

   Legal Foundation Laid

3. Public Announcement — India’s First Bitcoin Treasury Company

   On December 9, 2024, Jetking purchases 12 BTC worth ~$1.2 million. CEO Avinash Bharwani announces at Bitcoin Conference MENA in Abu Dhabi. This is India’s first public declaration of a Bitcoin treasury by a listed company. Stock surges 135% in three months, hitting upper circuit 13 consecutive days.

   Historic Milestone

4. More BTC Added

   Jetking adds approximately 2.77 BTC on January 31, 2025, confirmed via stock exchange filings. Total holdings now exceed 14 BTC. The company raises ₹6.1 crore through a preferential allotment of shares in April 2025, explicitly earmarking proceeds for Bitcoin acquisition.

   Accumulation Continues

5. BSE Gives In-Principle Approval — Then Reverses

   On May 9, 2025, Jetking receives in-principle approval from BSE for its preferential share issue. The company invests the raised funds in VDAs through the CoinDCX platform. Then on September 24, 2025, BSE returns the listing application — explicitly citing that crypto investment is “speculative in nature” and that the company’s MoA amendments were not yet RoC-certified at the time of deployment.

   BSE Rejection

6. Jetking Appeals to SAT

   Jetking challenges BSE’s decision at the Securities Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai. Stock falls nearly 10% in five trading days following the BSE rejection, dropping from ₹268.40 to ₹241.65. CFO Siddarth Bharwani describes the situation as a “regulatory arbitrage opportunity” and pledges to continue accumulation regardless.

   SAT Appeal Filed

7. CFO Reaffirms at Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference

   Speaking at the “Bitcoin for Corporations” event in Las Vegas, Siddarth Bharwani publicly reaffirms Jetking’s commitment: the company still targets 210 BTC by end of 2026 and 18,000 BTC by 2030. As of this date, Jetking holds 21 BTC worth approximately $1.4 million — over 25% of its total market value.

   Public Reaffirmation

8. SAT Dismisses Appeal — BSE Decision Stands

   On May 8, 2026, the Securities Appellate Tribunal dismisses Jetking’s appeal (Appeal No. 474 of 2025). SAT upholds BSE’s rejection, confirming that Jetking invested public funds in VDAs before the relevant MoA amendments were certified by the RoC — a procedural and governance violation. The ruling creates a significant precedent for any other Indian company considering a Bitcoin treasury strategy using publicly raised capital.

   SAT Rules Against Jetking

The BSE Battle — Why India’s Biggest Exchange Said No

The BSE’s rejection of Jetking’s listing application deserves careful examination, because its reasoning reveals the exact fault lines in India’s approach to corporate crypto adoption.

When Jetking applied to list the shares from its preferential allotment, BSE rejected the application on three main grounds. First, that investments in virtual digital assets are “speculative in nature.” Second, that the regulatory policy governing such assets remained under review — and the BSE could not approve a listing tied to assets whose legal status was unclear. Third, and most technically damaging: Jetking had deployed funds into VDAs via CoinDCX before its Memorandum of Association had been formally updated by the Registrar of Companies to permit this — a governance sequence violation.

The ruling created a clear and consequential distinction: Indian companies can use their existing internal profits to buy Bitcoin — Jetking’s initial purchases from 2022 onwards were never challenged. But raising fresh public capital to invest in crypto is a different matter entirely — and both BSE and now SAT have said no to that.

This puts India’s listed companies in an unusual position. They can hold crypto personally, but they cannot raise shareholder money to do it. This is fundamentally different from how Strategy Inc. operates in the US — where the entire playbook involves issuing convertible bonds and equity to the public and using that capital to buy Bitcoin.

The SAT Verdict — May 8, 2026

The Securities Appellate Tribunal’s ruling on May 8, 2026 is, as of this writing, the most significant judicial statement on corporate crypto treasury strategy in India’s history. And it matters for every Indian company that might have been watching Jetking’s experiment with interest.

SAT upheld BSE’s position on two key points. First, the procedural: Jetking invested the preferential issue proceeds into VDAs before the RoC had certified the second MoA amendment that explicitly permitted this. Regardless of whether the eventual outcome was permissible, the sequence was wrong — and the sequence matters in Indian corporate law. Second, the substantive: BSE’s characterisation of VDA investments as “speculative” and its policy position that public capital should not be deployed into assets whose regulatory framework “remains under review” was held to be reasonable.

For Jetking itself, the ruling doesn’t mean it has to sell its Bitcoin. It still holds 21 BTC. It can still use future operating cash to buy more. What it cannot do is use freshly raised public capital for crypto acquisition — at least not under the current regulatory framework.

Why Reliance, Infosys and Tata Haven’t Done This

I want to address this directly because it’s the question most readers have: if Jetking — a tiny ₹75 crore market cap company — can hold Bitcoin, why aren’t India’s real corporate giants doing the same?

The short answer is regulatory and reputational risk. The longer answer involves several layers:

• Institutional shareholder pressure. Companies like Reliance, Infosys, and Tata have large institutional shareholders — domestic mutual funds, LIC, FIIs. These shareholders have fiduciary obligations that make highly volatile, unregulated asset holdings problematic to justify in annual reports and AGMs.
• SEBI disclosure requirements. Any material investment must be disclosed under SEBI’s LODR regulations. A large company putting 10% of its cash into Bitcoin would trigger questions, analyst notes, and potentially ratings reviews from credit agencies.
• Audit and accounting complexity. Indian accounting standards (Ind AS) don’t yet have a clear, standardised treatment for VDA holdings on corporate balance sheets. How do you mark it to market? What’s the depreciation treatment? The audit implications alone are significant enough to give CFOs pause.
• No legal clarity on corporate VDA holdings. India’s Income Tax Act treats VDAs as taxable assets — but there’s no Companies Act or SEBI circular specifically addressing how listed companies should hold, report, or manage crypto on their books. Doing it means navigating genuine legal grey areas.
• The BSE-SAT precedent. The Jetking case has now confirmed that raising public capital for crypto is off the table. For companies that need to raise capital regularly, this creates a wall.

It’s also worth noting what companies are doing with blockchain — even if not Bitcoin specifically. Enterprise blockchain adoption by companies like Infosys, Reliance, and Tata is accelerating talent demand, according to industry reports. These companies are using blockchain technology for supply chain, trade finance, and digital identity — but treating it as infrastructure, not as a treasury asset. That distinction is important.

As I’ve covered previously on how blockchain is saving real institutions and blockchain’s role in fixing India’s credential crisis — the technology is being embraced, just not the asset.

Global Comparison — What Other Countries Are Doing

To understand how far India lags in corporate Bitcoin adoption, look at what’s happening globally:

The pattern is clear. In every country where a company has successfully built a Bitcoin treasury using publicly raised capital, there is a reasonably clear regulatory framework — or at least the absence of a framework that explicitly blocks it. India sits in a different category: the framework is unclear enough that exchanges and courts are choosing to say no by default.

This matters because the entire Strategy playbook depends on the ability to raise cheap capital and deploy it into Bitcoin. Without that mechanism, Indian companies can only use their existing cash — which limits the scale dramatically, and keeps any Bitcoin treasury strategy confined to smaller companies with surplus cash rather than established giants. Understanding how MicroStrategy’s model works makes this limitation even more apparent — the leverage and scale are the point, and India’s regulatory environment strips both away.

What Needs to Change for India Inc. to Hold Bitcoin

This question has a concrete answer — it’s not vague or speculative. There are specific regulatory and legislative changes that would unlock corporate Bitcoin adoption in India. Here’s what industry experts and legal analysts point to:

Experts believe clearer regulations aligned with global standards could arrive by late 2026, unlocking institutional money and taking India’s crypto economy to the next level. Whether that timeline holds is uncertain. But the direction of travel — from pure tax-only oversight toward a comprehensive framework — appears to be the stated intent of Indian policymakers.

For more on how India’s regulatory landscape is evolving, my piece on US crypto regulation struggles in 2026 provides useful contrast — and a reminder that even the world’s largest financial system is still fumbling toward clarity. India is not uniquely slow. But it is meaningfully behind.

What This Means for Indian Investors

If you’re an Indian investor who wants exposure to Bitcoin through the stock market — rather than directly buying crypto — you have a few options, each with important caveats.

Option 1 — Buy Jetking Infotrain (JETKINGQ.BO)

Jetking is the only Indian-listed company with confirmed Bitcoin holdings. Its stock has historically correlated with Bitcoin price movements — rising sharply when BTC rises, falling when sentiment turns. But be aware: Jetking’s market cap is only ₹75 crore, its core IT training business generates modest revenue, and the BSE-SAT legal battle creates regulatory overhang. This is a high-conviction, high-risk bet for informed investors only.

Option 2 — Buy US-Listed Crypto Stocks via LRS

As I covered in our earlier guide on crypto financial tools, Indian investors can use the LRS (Liberalised Remittance Scheme) to invest up to $250,000 per year in US stocks — including Strategy Inc. (MSTR), Coinbase (COIN), and Block Inc. (SQ) — through apps like Groww, INDmoney, and Vested. These give you Bitcoin exposure through regulated US equity markets, with significantly more liquidity and scale than Jetking.

Option 3 — Wait for Indian Bitcoin ETFs

Several Indian asset managers have reportedly filed preliminary proposals with SEBI for Bitcoin ETF-style products. If approved, these would be the cleanest, most regulated way for Indian retail investors to gain Bitcoin exposure through the domestic market. No timeline has been confirmed, but the direction of global regulatory travel makes this increasingly likely over a 2–3 year horizon.

Final Thoughts

Here’s the honest summary of where India stands on corporate Bitcoin adoption in 2026:

One company. Twenty-one Bitcoin. One historic legal battle. Zero clarity from regulators.

Jetking Infotrain deserves credit for doing what no Indian public company had done before — and for fighting the BSE all the way to the SAT rather than quietly backing down. Whether its ambitious target of 18,000 BTC by 2030 is achievable under India’s current framework is a different question. But as a statement of intent, it’s real.

The deeper story here is about India’s regulatory posture. While millions of Indian retail investors trade crypto daily — making India one of the world’s largest crypto markets by adoption — the country’s corporate structure remains almost entirely excluded from the asset class. Large companies that want Bitcoin treasury exposure are effectively forced to do it through their international subsidiaries or not at all.

That gap will close eventually. The SAT ruling has defined the current walls clearly, which is actually useful — companies and lawyers now know exactly what the problem is and can push for specific legislative solutions. As stablecoins enter mainstream finance and tokenized banking becomes real, the pressure on Indian policymakers to provide corporate-level clarity will only grow.

For now, the answer to “which Indian companies hold Bitcoin on their balance sheet?” remains the same: just one. And it’s a company that’s been teaching India about technology since 1947.