India moves to block Polymarket, eyes Kalshi
Table of contents
- MeitY has reportedly issued a blocking order against Polymarket under Section 69A of the IT Act, with a similar order for Kalshi said to be imminent.
- The government’s position is that prediction markets constitute prohibited online money games under the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025.
- Both platforms had continued to allow Indian users to sign up and trade despite domestic prohibitions being in place.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has reportedly issued a blocking order against Polymarket and is preparing a similar directive against Kalshi, as the government moves to enforce its position that prediction market platforms constitute prohibited online money gaming under a law that came into force via gazette notification on 1 May 2026.
PROGA and the ban
PROGA — the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 — was passed by both houses of Parliament in August 2025 and received Presidential assent the same month. MeitY issued a series of gazette notifications in April operationalising the act and its accompanying rules, with the legislation coming into force from 1 May 2026.
The act draws a three-way classification. E-sports are recognised and promoted as a legitimate form of competitive sport. Online social games involve no monetary stake. Online money games, defined as platforms where users deposit real money on uncertain outcomes, are completely prohibited, including their advertising and any associated financial transactions. Banks and financial institutions are barred from processing payments to such platforms.
MeitY’s position is that prediction markets fall into the prohibited category. The statute does not name prediction markets expressly, but the ministry has applied the online money games definition to platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which allow users to place real money on the outcome of events ranging from election results to commodity prices.
The blocking order is expected to be issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act rather than PROGA itself. Section 69A empowers the central government to restrict access to websites, apps and social media profiles — the same provision used to ban TikTok in India. Intermediaries that fail to comply face up to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine.
Platforms kept operating
Despite the domestic prohibitions, both Polymarket and Kalshi had continued to allow Indian users to sign up and trade. MeitY sent a letter dated 25 April 2026 to VPN service providers warning that users were still accessing “illegal and blocked prediction market and online betting platforms” despite those prohibitions.
A senior MeitY official told ThePrint that enforcement against Polymarket was already under way and that Kalshi was next in line. Reports indicated Kalshi remained accessible to Indian users at the time of writing, though that was expected to change imminently.
A MeitY official, who spoke to ThePrint on condition of anonymity, said:
“We have already issued a blocking order to Polymarket and are in the process of issuing an order to Kalshi as soon as Friday.”
The enforcement picture carries complications beyond the initial order. Deepro Guha, policy expert at The Quantum Hub, told ThePrint that mirror sites — where a blocked platform relaunches under a slightly altered domain — present a more significant institutional challenge than VPN usage.
Guha, policy expert at The Quantum Hub, said:
“The mirror sites problem becomes a real problem because that is happening at an institutional level, and to keep following that becomes really difficult.”
On the classification of Polymarket and Kalshi specifically, Guha was direct.
“It’s the definition of betting. There’s no other way to get out of that.”
Regulatory context in India
The scope of PROGA extends beyond prediction markets. Games including RummyCircle’s rummy, Adda52’s poker and Dream11’s fantasy cricket — previously contested as skill games — are now treated as prohibited online money games under the government’s enforcement approach, regardless of the skill element involved.
India’s regulatory stance on digital assets provides additional context. A 30% flat tax on gains and a 1% tax deducted at source on all transactions have substantially reduced domestic trading volumes.
MeitY’s April advisory noted that Indian users had been converting rupees into stablecoins to access blocked prediction market platforms, placing crypto payment rails directly in the enforcement frame.
On 20 May, India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance met representatives from Binance, WazirX and Zebpay in Delhi to discuss the regulation and taxation of virtual digital assets. The committee raised concerns about significant capital outflows from the country via crypto channels.
Prediction markets have faced mounting resistance in multiple jurisdictions. Kalshi’s access was blocked in Brazil last month following its launch there, and both Kalshi and Polymarket face state-level legal challenges in the US.
For operators in the sector, India’s enforcement action signals that large emerging markets are moving to apply existing gaming prohibition frameworks to prediction markets, with or without legislation that names the platforms directly.
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