INR Tumbles To New Record Lows As Markets Digest Union Budget

The Indian rupee declined 5 paise to hit an all-time low of 83.71 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday after the government raised tax rates on capital gains in the FY25 Budget. Indian shares ended little changed on Tuesday after falling sharply early in the day as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to increase Securities Transaction Tax (STT) and long-term capital gains (LTCG) taxes in her Budget speech. "It is proposed to increase the rates of STT on the sale of an option in securities from 0.0625 percent to 0.1 percent of the option premium, and on sale of a futures in securities from 0.0125 percent to 0.02 percent of the price at which such futures are traded," the FM said in a move that appears to aim at reining in rampant F&O trading. The long-term capital gains (LTCG) on all financial and non-financial assets will now attract a tax rate of 12.5 percent from 10 percent earlier. Short-term gains on certain financial assets shall henceforth attract a tax rate of 20 percent from 15 percent earlier. The benchmark 30-share Sensex ended the session down 73 points at 80,429, after having hit an intraday low of 79,224. The broader NSE Nifty index hit a low of 24,074 before closing at 24,479, down 30 points from its previous close.Besides, a weak tone in the US dollar and weakness in crude oil prices also put pressure on the domestic unit. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.64 and touched an intraday high of 83.61 and touched an all-time intraday low of 83.71 against the dollar during the trading session.

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