- She defended the STT increase as a deterrent to speculation
- STT on futures rose from 0.02% to 0.05%, and on options, premiums rose to 0.15% from 0.10%
- She credited retail investors for stabilizing markets amid foreign institutional investor outflows
At the NDTV Profit Conclave 2026, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "The STT increase was for deterrent purposes," describing the move as "a pill to solve speculative tendencies," and insisted it would "discourage malpractice rather than disrupt genuine market activity."
Her defence followed the Budget 2026 rate shock. STT on futures rose to 0.05 percent from 0.02 percent. On options, the levy moved to 0.15 percent on premium and on exercise, up from 0.10 percent and 0.125 percent, a reset that roiled equities and rattled brokers tied to F&O churn.
Sitharaman pushed back at doom talk with a credit to the home crowd. "The market survived due to the retail space amid FII outflows," she said, pointing to local investors as the buffer when foreign money turned uncertain.
She widened the warning to how global money now moves. "Fund flows are being used as a geopolitical tool now," she said, urging vigilance as politics jolts capital around the world and forces policy makers to watch sentiment beyond earnings and growth.
On ambition and pace, she drew clear lines. India "cannot be over ambitious in the banking and finance space," she said. She added that the government has been "closely assessing capital expenditure trends," a signal that discipline will sit alongside growth as spending plans roll on.
For traders, the bite lands at execution on recognised exchanges, where STT is collected at the moment of the transaction. Higher rates hit frequent and speculative strategies first and hardest. The ministry's case, in the FM's words, is to cool excess while "not disrupting genuine market activity," a deterrent priced into every F&O order click.
