Tax on demat transactions

The Kerala Budget on Friday proposed to bring demat transactions under the Stamp Duty Act and required all stock market players to obtain a licence to operate.

On a benchmark of Rs 500 and transaction worth Rs 1 crore, an amount of Rs 50 (0.0005 per cent) will be levied as stamp duty.

For transactions not related to government securities and for which delivery is done, for a benchmark of Rs 250 and worth Rs 10,000, the levy will be Re 1 (0.01 per cent), while for transactions which do not result in delivery, and worth Rs 50,000, the levy will be Re 1 (0.002 per cent).

For futures and options, on a benchmark of Rs 250 and transaction worth Rs 50,000, the stamp duty will be Re 1 (0.002 per cent). These new proposals on stamp duty levy are expected to make the state exchequer richer by Rs 10 crore, the finance minister said.

Reacting to this proposal, V Rajendran, managing director, Capstocks and Securities Ltd, said though this was a small levy, it would be an additional burden on the investor community.

"The investor already pays securities and transaction tax, service tax and also transaction charges to the NSE," he added.