Kalshi has officially barred customers in India from trading event contracts following government action to limit access to prediction market platforms under the country’s online gaming rules.
The platform added India to its list of restricted jurisdictions in a member agreement dated June 17, as reported by Bloomberg. The provision applies to traders who are resident or physically located in India.
The change followed weeks of enforcement pressure. Kalshi’s website became inaccessible through several Indian internet providers during the last week of May, after India’s technology ministry had already warned that prediction market sites were illegal. It also said virtual private networks were being used to bypass restrictions.
The Ministry issued a notice to VPN providers on April 25, warning of intervention after it found that users in India were still using VPNs to reach prediction market and online betting sites that had been blocked under domestic law.
The dispute rests on the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which took effect on May 1. The regime prohibits online money-gaming services, their advertising, and financial transfers connected with those services. The law also applies to services offered from foreign jurisdictions.
Despite assertions by prediction market operators to the contrary, authorities in India and other countries have classified prediction market activity as prohibited online money gaming.
Kalshi reportedly continued accepting Indian customers after the rules began. In May, its legal counsel said Kalshi was speaking with the Indian government and said that no closure order had been received. Indian users were still required to complete identity checks before trading.
The latest agreement bars event-contract trades, but does not automatically end platform membership or non-trading access. Those limited forms of access remain subject to Indian law and Kalshi policy.
India once a solid market for Kalshi
India had been a meaningful, but not large, source of traffic before the action. Semrush estimated that India generated 3.63% of visits to Kalshi.com in May, or roughly 361,960 visits across devices. The measurement reflects website traffic, not unique users, account holders or trading volume.
Cricket had provided a clear draw. During the Indian Premier League season, Kalshi’s cricket markets at times reached nearly half of US baseball (mostly MLB) trading. A May 7 match between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru produced $27.7m in combined Kalshi and Polymarket trading, according to Bloomberg. That total does not show how much volume came from India, however.
India also joins a longer group of Asian jurisdictions on Kalshi’s restricted list. China, North Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Iran, Iraq, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen are already named. The agreement does not state that every country imposed a separate government block.
The Indian action adds to Kalshi’s international regulatory problems. Brazil blocked access soon after the company’s launch there. Spain blocked Kalshi and Polymarket in May while regulators examined whether the companies were operating gambling without licenses.
Last year, Kalshi said it had expanded from the US to 140 countries, including India. The restriction now removes Indian event contract trading from that international footprint.