In the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, on 21 July 2026, informed that there is currently no proposal under consideration to scrap Long-Term Capital Gains tax on Indian equities or mutual funds for domestic and retail investors.
The information was provided in a written reply to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 252, titled “Proposal to Scrap LTCG Tax.”
The Minister stated that tax policies, including capital gains tax rates, are reviewed periodically as part of the annual Budget process and legislative revisions, after considering relevant macroeconomic parameters.
Highlighting measures to strengthen investor confidence, Shri Pankaj Chaudhary informed the House that the Securities and Exchange Board of India, in collaboration with stock exchanges, depositories and other Market Infrastructure Institutions, is implementing investor-awareness and education initiatives through physical programmes and digital platforms, television and radio.
These programmes provide information on securities-market products, investment risks, responsible investing, investor rights and responsibilities, grievance-redressal mechanisms, and safeguards against market-related frauds and scams.
During Financial Year 2025–26, SEBI and Market Infrastructure Institutions conducted 44,834 investor-awareness programmes covering 774 districts across 36 States and Union Territories, significantly expanding investor outreach across the country.
The Minister also highlighted the “SEBI vs SCAM” campaign, launched in July 2025 in collaboration with Market Infrastructure Institutions and the Association of Mutual Funds in India. The campaign seeks to create awareness about online investment scams, including promises of guaranteed or unusually high returns, fraudulent derivatives strategies and stock tips circulated through social-media and messaging platforms.
SEBI, in collaboration with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, has also launched a nationwide training initiative for block-level and Gram Panchayat representatives to promote financial literacy, digital hygiene and protection from cyber fraud, social-media scams and Ponzi schemes among rural communities.
The Government further informed the Rajya Sabha that the revamped SCORES 2.0 platform has strengthened investor grievance redressal through reduced timelines, automatic routing and escalation of complaints, monitoring by designated bodies and two levels of review. Investors may also seek referral to the Online Dispute Resolution mechanism.
To tackle impersonation and unauthorised collection of funds, SEBI introduced a standardised and validated UPI framework. Effective from 1 October 2025, investor-facing intermediaries are required to accept UPI payments from individual investors only through validated UPI handles.
Additional investor-protection measures introduced in 2026 include strengthened safeguards for pledging securities, regulated use of market-price data for educational purposes, and revised norms intended to keep exchange-traded fund prices closely aligned with their underlying asset values.
The Unstarred Question can be accessed at: https://a2ztaxcorp.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/RS-PROPOSAL-TO-SCRAP-LTCG-TAX-21.07.2026.pdf
