STT collections jump 52.9% to Rs 40,214 crore in FY27 so far; key details

Securities Transaction Tax (STT) collections surged 52.9 per cent in the first six months of the ongoing financial year. Data showed the government collected Rs 40,214 crore in STT from April 1 till September 17 compared with Rs 26,306 crore in the corresponding period last year. Higher STT rates on derivatives from April 1 likely contributed to the higher collections.

The government had increased STT tax on sale of futures contracts to 0.05 per cent from 0.02 per cent in the Budget for FY27.

STT is applicable on all sell transactions for both futures and option contracts. For the purpose of STT, each futures trade is valued at the actual traded price and option trade is valued at premium. On this value, the STT rate as prescribed is applied to determine the STT liability. In case of final exercise of an option contract STT is levied on settlement price on the day of exercise if the option contract is in the money.

An STT of 0.15 per cent of the value of options in securities was imposed from April 1, payable by the seller, up from 0.10 per cent earlier.

As far as mutual funds are concerned, STT is applicable only in respect of the sale of units of equity-oriented mutual funds on a recognised stock exchange and on the repurchase of the units of equity-oriented funds by the mutual fund.

The government has projected total tax collections in FY27 at Rs 44.04 lakh crore, up 9.4 per cent year-on-year. Of this, it aims to collect Rs 26.97 lakh crore as direct taxes, up 18.1 per cent from FY26. The government aims to collect Rs 73,700 crore from securities transaction tax in FY27.

Overall, the government's net direct tax collections rose 13 per cent YoY to Rs 12.124 lak crore during April 1-September 17, buoyed by a nearly 20 per cent increase in corporate tax collections, data released by the finance ministry Friday showed. Net direct tax collections so far account for 45 per cent of the Rs 26.97 lakh crore target set in the Budget for the financial year 2026-27.