Budget 2026: BSE, Angel One, Groww shares fall up to 10% as FM raises STT on Futures and Options

BSE, Angel One shares fall up to 10% as FM Sitharaman raises STT on Futures to 0.05%

• Shares of BSE, Angel One, Groww fell up to 10% after STT hike in Budget 2026
• STT on futures raised to 0.05%, options to 0.15%, hitting market sentiment
• Nifty Capital Markets index dropped 6%, with MCX and others also falling sharply

Did our AI summary help?

Shares of BSE, Angel One, Groww fell up to 10% on February 1 as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed in Budget 2026 to raise Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures to 0.05% from 0.02% and on options to 0.15% from 0.1%.

Nifty Capital Markets index crashed 6% following the announcement. Other losers in the index are MCX, Nuvama, NAM-India, with the commodity exchange stock falling as much as 10%.

Consequently, stock market was trading 1% lower in afternoon trade on February 1.

Notably, there's no hike in tax on commodity trading.

The budget also proposed to treat buybacks as capital gains, taxing them at slab rates, and large shareholders will have to pay additional buyback tax.

Buybacks involve companies repurchasing their own shares from existing shareholders, usually from the open market or through a tender offer.

"The steep increase in STT on futures and options is likely to raise impact costs for traders, hedgers and arbitrageurs," Shripal Shah, managing director and chief executive at Kotak Securities told Reuters.

This could cool derivatives activity and lead to a reduction in volumes, Shah said.

"The increase in STT on derivatives is a negative for markets as it can reduce liquidity. Furthermore, lack of relief on STT for cash market investments and measures to attract foreign investments were the big negatives," Ambareesh Baliga, an independent market analyst, told Reuters.

Markets were expecting a relief on STCG or LTCG in Budget 2026, which didn't happen and led to a bearish sentiment on the capital market stocks.

Krishna Bhimavarapu, APAC economist at State Street Investment Management, told Reuters that the Budget budget does not materially alter the investment case for foreign investors in the near term.

Budget 2026 made a fresh bet on the country's manufacturing sector as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid out priorities for Asia's third-biggest economy and pledged to accelerate growth amid a volatile global environment.

"Defensive allocation and long-term positioning remain key in navigating post-Budget volatility. Markets were expecting relief on LTCG and STCG taxation, but no proposals were announced, which may result in continued FII selling. Adding to the pressure, the hike in STT on futures and options acts as a broad-based negative for market sentiment," said Somil Mehta, Head of Retail research at Mirae Asset Sharekhan.