The benchmark Sensex tanked about 3.4% as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced increase in the Securities Transaction Tax.
The stock market plunged sharply on Sunday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an increase in the Securities Transaction Tax as part of her Union Budget proposal for the financial year 2026-’27.
Securities Transaction Tax is a direct tax imposed on all transactions of listed securities, such as stocks, mutual funds and derivatives, on recognised stock exchanges.
Sitharaman proposed increasing the tax on equity futures to 0.05% from 0.02%. The tax on the options segment will be raised to 0.15% from 0.1%, announced the finance minister.
Equity futures are contracts obligating buyers to purchase and sellers to sell a specific stock or index at a predetermined price on a future date.
