Brokers want Stamp Act amended to lower duty burden

With brokers troubled over the levy of stamp duty by states, the Association of National Exchange Members of India (Anmi) has proposed amendments to the Indian Stamp Act, 1899.

The proposal, say Anmi members, was given to the government a fortnight ago and seeks a review of two issues.

Brokers say the amount of stamp duty should be drastically reduced and it should be collected by stock exchanges and later distributed to the respective states. At present, while brokers pay stamp duty to states in which they trade, Maharashtra has demanded payment on trades executed on exchanges in Mumbai.

“If the cost of trading in India is highest in the world, it is only due to statutory costs,” said Rajesh Behati of Cross-seas Capital, a Mumbai-based arbitrageur.

While the cost of trading in equity, including brokerage, in the developed markets of the US and Europe, is around Rs 500 on trades of Rs 1 crore, it is as high as Rs 1,300 in India. This includes Rs 850 as Securities Transaction Tax (STT). While Rs 200 goes to the exchange on which trades are conducted, the stamp duty is Rs 200 and service tax Rs 21. Also, Rs 10 on every Rs 1 crore trade is collected by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. In addition, there is a brokerage. And, if trades are delivery-based, they attract depository and demat charges.

While it may seem minuscule in percentage terms, it is actually a major burden, as traders can make profit in India only after trading for 28 ticks, while in the US and UK, profits can be made by just one tick on index futures. In India, one tick trading means trading on a spread of five paise for a single unit of the Nifty contract.

Each Nifty contract is of 50 units, so a trader has to spend Rs 70 for trading the contract for 28 ticks and only then can he generate profit.
While in the US, the spread on the S&P contract or one tick is of 25 cents. So, if a trader makes just one tick and cost of trading is just five cents, he can take home 20 cents. This is the real reason why US markets are more liquid.

Market players say if the S&P index is traded in India, which will soon happen as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will list it, the cost of trading it would be 30 cents. This means day traders would not be able to take advantage of the trading.

Reach affected
Players say both statutory costs and lack of penetration due to it are a major hindrance for volumes in the commodity segment. The Multi Commodity Exchange, NCDEX and NMCE put together are not able to cross an average daily turnover of Rs 30,000 crore. In the equity segment only two exchanges, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the NSE, generate a turnover of nearly Rs 15,000 crore on the cash segment and NSE generates a turnover of close to Rs 1,00,000 crore in the derivatives segment.

“Currency trading attracts no statutory cost around the world. Stamp duty is putting a heavy burden. As a consequence, the crash of trading volumes in the segment by 50 per cent is a known fact,” said Behati.

The statutory cost of trading in the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX), where Nifty futures are listed, is one-fourth of that in India. This has led to a significant shift of trading volumes to overseas markets in the past one year.