Happy as an Indian, not as investor: Madhusudan Kela on LTCG

Market veteran Madhusudan kela welcomed Budget 2018, saying by and large the measures taken are good. He, in fact, didn't mind levying of long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on equities too.

"By and large the Budget has been good. Strong push to rural India will provide much-needed fillip to agriculture sector," Kela said. 

As for stock market, reinstating LTCG may dampen the sentiment in the short-run, but Kela favoured taxing the long-term capital gains. 

"When businesses are paying 33 per cent tax on their profits, expecting market returns to be tax-free forever is unreasonable. Personally I may not be happy, but as an Indian I welcome LTCG," Kela said. 

The government today introduced long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax of 10 per cent on stock market gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh, sending the market tumbling.