Owning Bitcoin in India means paying a stiff 30% crypto tax on the returns you make from it. But what if you could bypass it and still invest in the asset without actually owning it?

That’s exactly what Jetking, a 79-year-old IT-training company, is helping investors do. Since declaring the cryptocurrency as its primary treasure reserve asset in November 2024, the company has accumulated 23 Bitcoin, currently valued at over Rs 23 crore ($2.6 million).

“We always envisioned Jetking becoming a Bitcoin-centric company, not merely a Bitcoin holder,” said Siddarth Bharwani, joint managing director and chief financial officer of Jetking Infotrain. “We’re looking at it not only as a treasury asset but also as the foundation for future operational businesses. The broader goal is to build everything around Bitcoin—treasury, education, adoption, yield-generation—whatever opportunities arise within the ecosystem.”

The strategy clicked among retail investors. Since Jetking’s announcement of hoarding Bitcoin, its stock has surged over 5X.

But under the surface, the numbers don’t add up. In FY25, the company generated revenue of just about Rs 21 crore. And it’s been incurring operational losses since 2017.

Jetking’s market capitalisation today stands at about Rs 180 crore—over 7X the value of the Bitcoin it holds. Put simply, its shareholders are paying about Rs 7.40 for every Rs 1 of Bitcoin the company owns. For now, they seem happy to pay that because the company exploits a taxation gap.

“For many Indians, directly buying Bitcoin via exchanges or exchange-traded funds is complex,” said Bharwani. “Through Jetking, investors can gain indirect exposure to the asset by just holding a stock. There is no law prohibiting companies from holding Bitcoin.” So Jetking holds Bitcoin, and investors hold Jetking.

This kind of structure should ideally not outperform Bitcoin itself. But it is also possible that the excitement has gotten ahead of fundamentals.

Similar companies, such as Strategy and Metaplanet, have pulled this off in the US and Japan. But in India, there exists a regulatory risk. The government and the central bank don’t seem gung-ho about the asset.

Besides, Jetking’s entire Bitcoin treasury model depends on three levers—that the asset will continue to run up; that investors will continue to allocate their capital; and that they will pay a premium for the company’s future accumulation of Bitcoin.