No long-term capital gains tax plan on securities investments, clarifies Arun Jaitley

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday clarified that there is no plan to impose long-term capital gains tax on securities investments, after a statement by prime minister raised such a suspicion.

He said any report that the coming budget is likely to introduce this much-feared tax is an erroneous interpretation of the prime minister’s speech.

[caption id=“attachment_3166464” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. PTI[/caption] “This interpretation is absolutely erroneous. The Prime Minister has made no such statement directly or indirectly. I was present at the function in which this speech was given. I wish to absolutely clarify that there is no occasion or opportunity to anybody to reach such a conclusion because this is not what the Prime Minister said nor is it the intention of the government as has been reported in some section of the media,” he said.

In his speech at the National Institute of Securities Market on Saturday, prime minister Narendra Modi had hinted at possibility of such a tax.

“…Those who profit from financial markets must make a fair contribution to nation-building through taxes. For various reasons, the contribution of tax from those who make money on the markets has been low,” he said.

This had raised the suspicion that the government may be planning to introduce a long-term capital gains tax on Securities investments.

As of now in India, long-term capital gains from equity and mutual funds are not taxed. Short term gains are taxed at 15 percent.