The CEO of Gemini Asia Pacific, Pravjit Tiwana, announced that the company has opened an office in Gurgaon, one of the country’s major tech hubs. Moreover, Gemini has already built a team of over 70 employees in the hub to support its operations.
Why Gemini Wants to Invest in India
Furthermore, over the course of the upcoming two years, Gemini wants to invest $24 million to develop its operations in Gurgaon. It also plans to increase its headcount.
In April 2023, Gemini first announced plans for its Gurgaon expansion. Tiwana envisions that the India office will become Gemini’s second-largest engineering hub.
According to Tiwana, the startup supportive initiative from the Indian government, “Startup India,” will help Gemini to thrive. He wrote:
“India is undoubtedly a leading global hub for entrepreneurship and technological development.”
The screenshot below shows that the number of government-recognized startups in India increased from 471 in 2016 to 26,542 in 2022.
Number of government-recognized startups from the financial year 2018 to 2022 in India. Source: Statista
Gemini’s Global Expansion Drive
While Gemini has outsourced its engineering and other operations from India, it has not expanded the crypto exchange to the country.
This could be due to the harsh crypto taxation in the country which has been impacting trading volume. India implemented a flat 30% tax on crypto gains and a 1% tax deduction at source (TDS) for crypto transactions in 2022.
Apart from India, Gemini is also focusing on expanding its business team in Singapore. The company announced hiring at least 100 staff to build its Asian hub.
In June, BeInCrypto reported that Gemini is also considering applying for a virtual assets license in the UAE.