Indian Financial-Market Stocks Gain Up to 8% After Tax Remarks
Key Facts
Shares of Indian brokerage and market-infrastructure companies rose in Tuesday’s session on November 3, after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government would consider investors’ concerns and tax-related requests. Angel One rose about 8%, the biggest gain among the stocks covered by Trade Brains, while Motilal Oswal Financial Services climbed as much as 7%. CDSL gained about 6.5%, pointing to broader advances among brokerage and market-services companies. The move followed Sitharaman’s remarks at an event in Mumbai, but she did not announce an immediate tax cut or a change to the existing regime. The minister said, "Stakeholders are voicing their concerns more loudly, and I will study all of it."
Gains spread to other stocks linked to financial activity, with CAMS rising about 5.5% during the session. The Nifty Capital Markets index, which reflects the performance of the financial-markets sector, gained more than 3%, according to Trade Brains. Shares of Groww, BSE, Nuvama Wealth Management and Multi Commodity Exchange of India also rose, with gains ranging from 1% to 5%. The moves showed demand extending across multiple companies and platforms in the market ecosystem, alongside brokers. Press coverage linked the improvement to investors’ response to the minister’s comments about hearing tax concerns, rather than to an announcement of a new government measure.
The remarks come as Indian stocks face pressure from foreign investor outflows. Reuters reported that foreign investors sold a record $31 billion of Indian shares during 2026 through its November 2 report. On November 2, Sitharaman said India needed capital, particularly equity capital, to support growth above 7%, and that she would take into account rising concerns about foreign investor outflows. She added that the tax structure had been similar in 2023, when foreign inflows reached a record, but acknowledged that conditions had changed and concerns had increased. She also said the stock market needed support, cautioning against treating tax exemptions as the main driver of capital-market performance. The debate reflects the government’s efforts to balance attracting funding and strengthening the market with reviewing investors’ demands.
Tax policy has taken on added importance amid the divergence between Indian equities and emerging markets. The Nifty 50 fell 4.8% over the two years through November 2, 2026, while the MSCI Emerging Markets index rose 40% over the same period, according to Reuters. In March 2026, foreign investors recorded net equity sales of 1,17,775 crore rupees, compared with net purchases of 1,43,169 crore rupees by domestic institutional investors, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The 2024-25 budget had proposed raising the short-term capital-gains tax on some financial assets to 20% and imposing a 12.5% tax on long-term gains, while increasing the annual exemption limit for some assets to 1.25 lakh rupees. The board recommended abolishing the long-term capital-gains tax on foreign investors in equities and exempting some domestic mutual-fund investors when switching their holdings. These recommendations are non-binding, with the final decision resting with the government, while the Finance Ministry has set November 30 as the date for releasing the October industrial production index estimate.