Budget 2024: Hike In Capital Gains Tax, STT May Cool Down Market Activity, Says Nithin Kamath

The Union Budget 2024-25 proposal to hike the capital gains tax might cool down the activity in the stock markets if that is the idea of the government, according to Nithin Kamath, chief executive officer of Zerodha Broking Ltd.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to hike the long-term capital gains tax from 10% to 12.5% and the short-term capital gains tax from 15% to 20%.

These changes will be applicable from Wednesday, Kamath posted on X. "If the idea was to cool down the activity in the markets, this might just do the trick."

Budget summary for us

STT on options goes up from 0.062% to 0.1%. STT on futures goes up from 0.0125% to 0.02% from October 1st.

We collected about Rs 1500 crores of STT last year, @zerodhaonline. If the volumes don't drop, this will increase to about Rs 2500 crores at the new…

The proposed hike in the securities transaction tax on futures and options will lead to an incremental revenue if the volumes do not drop, according to the CEO.

The STT on options contracts will increase from 0.062% to 0.1% and the same for futures contracts will rise from 0.0125% to 0.02% from Oct. 1, he said. "We collected about Rs 1,500 crore of STT last year. If the volumes don't drop, this will increase to about Rs 2,500 crore at the new rates."

While the retail segment is the most-notable bearer of losses in the markets' derivatives segment, the share in participation highlights a different category of traders as the drivers of derivatives volume.

Watch: Key Takeaways From Union Budget 2024

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