Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday introduced amendments to the Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha to rectify the figures on the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) rate on futures and options contracts.
The amendment tabled by Finance Minister Sitharaman proposes to increase the securities transaction tax on options from 0.05 per cent to 0.0625 per cent and on futures contracts from 0.01 per cent to 0.0125 per cent.
The Lok Sabha had approved the Finance Bill on Friday itself. 64 official amendments to the Finance Bill were moved in the Lok Sabha.
After the bill was approved by the lower house, the finance ministry had issued a statement saying there was a “typographic” error in the amendments regarding change in STT on options trading. The Finance Ministry said that this glitch will be rectified as per the process.
After the amendment was approved by the Upper House, the Lower House also accepted it when the Lok Sabha met at 4 pm. Earlier, the Upper House returned the Finance Bill 2023 to the Lok Sabha by voice vote without discussion amid uproar by opposition members.
As soon as the Upper House meeting began at 2 pm after a one-time adjournment, several members of various opposition parties, including the Congress, created ruckus demanding the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the allegations related to the Adani group.
Amidst the uproar, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary presented the general budget of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the financial year 2023-24, supplementary demands for grants and the related appropriation bill in the House.
The House returned the General Budget of Jammu and Kashmir, the Supplementary Demands for Grants and the Appropriation Bill relating thereto to the Lok Sabha by voice vote without discussion. After this, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Finance Bill 2023 in the House.
Along with this, he also introduced an amendment related to STT rate. During this, the ruckus of the opposition members was going on in the house. Amidst the uproar, the Finance Bill 2023 was returned to the Lok Sabha by voice vote without discussion. Chairman Dhankhar termed as “unfortunate” the members did not utilize the 10 hours allotted for discussion on the Finance Bill in the House.
The budget process began with the presentation of the General Budget 2023-24 by Finance Minister Nirmal Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha on February 1. The bill was passed in the lower house on March 24.
