Govt has no intention to impose long-term capital gains tax: FM

Jaitley says PM Modi's Saturday speech in Mumbai had been wrongly interpreted

Trying to calm the jangled nerves, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday went to great lengths clarifying that the government had no intention of imposing tax on long-term capital gains from share transactions.

Referring to a speech made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai a day before, Jaitley said the interpretation of the speech was not correct. "The speech has been misinterpreted in some sections of the media which have started speculating that this is an indirect reference to the fact that there could be long-term capital gains (tax) on securities transactions," he clarified.

"Now, this interpretation is absolutely erroneous, the Prime Minister has made no such statement directly or indirectly... And, therefore, I wish to absolutely clarify that there is no occasion or opportunity for anybody to reach such a conclusion because this is not what the prime minister said, nor is this the intention of the government, as has been reported," Jaitley said.