The government seems to have put its weight behind equities in the tug of war—being played out in the minds of investors, especially the Gen-Z and the younger millennial generations—between the two riskiest assets, equities and cryptos. The Union Budget 2022 introduced a steep tax rate of 30 per cent on virtual digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), while giving a slight relief on long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax levied on unlisted equities; for listed securities, the LTCG tax rate is 10 per cent, subject to conditions. While the gap in the tax rates is significant, the scales are already tipped in favour of equities when compared with cryptocurrencies. Taxation just adds another hurdle for cryptocurrencies. “Virtual digital assets will be taxed at 30 per cent. Only the cost of acquisition can be reduced while computing the gain. Further, no other expenditure can be claimed as a deduction. Also, no set-off of any loss is permitted against these gains,” says Sudhakar Sethuraman, partner, Deloitte India. Both the stock and...