Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman used a Tuesday appearance at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi to signal that capital-markets taxes are back on the government’s listening agenda, even as she stopped short of promising cuts to long-term capital gains or securities transaction levies.
Speaking to investors and policy makers, Sitharaman said she would be “keen on hearing all stakeholders” on long-term capital gains tax and described the public debate on securities transaction tax as “healthy,” according to remarks reported by CNBC-TV18 and other outlets covering the forum. The comments landed on a day when domestic equities had already staged a sharp rebound, with traders treating any openness to review as a cue that February’s budget cycle could revisit holding-period charges that bite portfolio investors.
What she did not commit to
Indian officials have learned to separate consultation from concession. Sitharaman framed the exchange as information gathering, not a pre-announcement. Markets nonetheless priced in relief: the session’s late surge in information-technology shares helped pull the BSE Sensex up more than 1,100 points to about 73,034 and the Nifty 50 above 22,700, exchange data show. Foreign portfolio investors still sold roughly ₹1,305 crore of equities on the day, while domestic institutions bought about ₹2,439 crore, leaving net institutional buying near ₹1,134 crore, according to provisional figures cited by business television.
The minister’s forum remarks sat beside a brighter macro backdrop. The International Monetary Fund lifted its fiscal 2026-27 growth projection for India by 0.6 percentage point to 7 percent, citing resilient domestic demand and services activity even as imported energy costs stay elevated. Brent crude has hovered around $105 a barrel, and analysts note that any sustained oil shock would complicate both inflation management and the fiscal room needed to trim transaction or capital-gains charges.
Festival-season payments on hold
Households tracking payment costs received a parallel reprieve. The National Payments Corporation of India said implementation of merchant discount rate charges on certain person-to-merchant UPI flows would be deferred until after Diwali, with a new date to be notified separately, CNBC-TV18 reported. That keeps the festival shopping window free of fresh friction on small-ticket digital payments, a politically sensitive line as urban consumers balance credit-card bills and cash discounts.
For corporate treasurers, the day’s message was mixed. Equity markets welcomed the chance that capital-gains rules might soften, yet bond and currency desks were still digesting Reserve Bank of India steps from 10 October aimed at damping speculative dollar demand. Governor Sanjay Malhotra told Moneycontrol that roughly one-third of derivative trades were being opened and closed the same day, behaviour the central bank said was amplifying rupee volatility rather than hedging real exposure.
What comes next
Sitharaman’s team will now field submissions from brokers, mutual funds, and overseas allocators ahead of budget drafting. None of those conversations automatically translate into lower LTCG or STT rates; revenue officials must still square any giveaway against subsidy and infrastructure spending. Traders who bought the rumour on Tuesday will need February’s fine print to justify holding the move.
Still, opening the door beats slamming it shut. Combined with the IMF’s upgraded growth call, the forum appearance gave New Delhi a chance to argue that India can absorb oil stress while keeping private investment engaged—provided capital-markets policy does not surprise holders with another abrupt rule change.