In a move that will curb the menace of different states flexing muscle on stamp duty collection in equity, currency and commodity markets, the Central Government has issued a uniform stamp duty structure across states. The Gazatte notification for uniform stamp duty would be effective from January 2020.
Currency traders in Mumbai, a city which generates largest trading volume in the segment, will have to pay a stamp duty of only ₹10 per crore against ₹200 they pay as of now. The same is for Delhi.
Details of stamp duty charged is based on traded volume and is mentioned in a contract note. Brokers collected it and passed it on to the respective states where the trading volumes came from.
Many states levied stamp duty of around ₹250 to 300 on per ₹1 crore worth of intra-day and derivative trades. This has now been fixed at ₹300 for intra-day, and ₹200 for derivative on every ₹1 crore worth of volumes.
On delivery based trades, the stamp duty has been fixed at ₹1,500 per crore on buy side. This is instead of ₹750 on each buy and sell side. The same for options trading is ₹300 and ₹10 for currency segment trading on every crore. Also, brokers will no longer have to worry about depositing stamp duty to states, that will now be done bystock and commodity exchanges.
The move was announced in the budget by Nirmala Sitharaman this year but is being implemented only now.