Shares of Groww plunged during the intraday trading today after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced raising the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures and options (F&O) in her ninth Budget speech. The FM proposed hiking the STT on futures to 0.05% from the current 0.02%. Besides, STT on options premium and exercise of options are set to be raised to 0.15% from the present rate of 0.1% and 0.125% respectively. Following the announcement, shares of Groww plunged as much as 14% to hit an intraday low of INR 152.9. With this, the company’s market cap fell below the INR 1 Lakh Cr mark. Its competitor, Angel One, also witnessed selling pressure. The stock crashed as much as 13% during the intraday trade. Citing the rationale for the increase in STT, the tax department said in a post on X that the total volume of transactions in F&O is more than 500 times of Indian GDP. While India’s GDP is INR 300 Lakh Cr, volume for options and futures is more than INR 1.5 Lakh Lakh Cr. “Therefore, there is justification for an increase in rates to curb purely speculative activity in options and futures,” the department said. It is important… Read MoreInc42 Media
