Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took the stage at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi on 2026-10-13. She said the central government is prepared to consider public and investor opinions on the abolition of the Long‑Term Capital Gains (LTCG) tax and the equalisation of the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) across asset classes in the upcoming budget. She noted that market participants are already discussing these tax policies and invited a healthy democratic discourse. In the same address she highlighted that India is at the forefront of artificial intelligence, semiconductor chip manufacturing, design and packaging, aiming to produce both advanced nanometre chips and essential basic chips. She also pointed out that significant global investment is flowing into data centres, power transmission, green hydrogen and green ammonia sectors.
The minister’s acknowledgment that investors are continuously sharing their views on LTCG tax was interpreted by the market as a positive signal. On the same day the Sensex rose to an intraday high, gaining over 1,100 points, while the Nifty added about 350 points. The Nifty IT index climbed 5 % and HCL Tech’s share price jumped 8 %. The Sensex later closed at 73,033.78, up roughly 1,109 points from the previous close. These moves were reinforced by strong quarterly earnings from IT giants HCL Tech and TCS, which helped ease worries about slowing growth in the technology sector. Despite the broader optimism, small‑cap stocks showed a slight decline, indicating that some investors preferred the perceived stability of large‑cap names.
Sitharaman stressed that the debate on LTCG and STT is healthy, but she clarified that the government has not put forward a formal proposal to scrap the tax. This echoed an earlier statement made in Parliament that no such proposal was under consideration, a point reiterated by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary on 2024-07-20 when he said there was no proposal under consideration to abolish LTCG tax for domestic or retail investors. Nevertheless, the finance minister said the government will hear investor views on removing the LTCG tax during the Budget consultation process, noting that domestic and foreign investors, as well as research houses like SBI Research, have been pressing for the tax’s removal to encourage capital inflows. The discussion also touches on the broader goal of aligning tax treatment across different asset classes.
Despite the broader optimism, small‑cap stocks showed a slight decline, indicating that some investors preferred the perceived stability of large‑cap names.
The current LTCG framework provides an exemption limit of 1.25 lakh rupees and taxes gains above that threshold at a rate of 12.5 percent. While the minister did not announce any change to these figures, she underscored that India’s macroeconomic fundamentals remain strong and that investors need not worry about fiscal discipline. She also repeated that India keeps its macroeconomic fundamentals strong, reinforcing confidence among market participants.
Separate from the tax discussion, industry analyst Dharmesh Kant observed that the quarterly numbers reported by Accenture, TCS and HCLTech suggest the worst of earnings‑growth concerns for IT companies might be behind us, describing the situation as a value‑buying opportunity in the sector. This commentary complemented the minister’s own points about India’s leadership in AI, semiconductor design and packaging, and the sizable global commitments to data centres, power transmission, green hydrogen and green ammonia.
As of the forum date, the government remains open to hearing suggestions on LTCG tax reform in the pre‑budget phase, but no formal proposal to abolish the tax has been tabled. The equity market’s reaction—marked by a Sensex gain of more than a thousand points and a notable rise in IT‑linked indices—shows that investors welcomed the signal of dialogue, even as they continue to weigh the prospects of tax change against the backdrop of strong corporate earnings and India’s push into high‑technology and green‑infrastructure sectors.