Business

Union Budget 2026: SGBs bought from secondary markets to attract capital gains tax, effective April 1

Published

3 days ago

1 February 2026

Union Budget 2026: SGBs bought from secondary markets to attract capital gains tax, effective April 1

In a significant move, the government today proposed removing the capital gains tax exemption on Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) purchased in the secondary markets. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in Budget 2026 that the relief will be given only to those individual investors who have bought it from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and hold it till maturity.

“It is proposed to provide that the exemption from capital gains tax in respect of Sovereign Gold Bonds shall be available only where such bonds are subscribed to by an individual at the time of original issue and are held continuously until redemption on maturity,” FM Sitharaman said in her speech today. “It is also proposed to provide that this exemption applies uniformly to all issuances of Sovereign Gold Bonds by the Reserve Bank of India,” she added.

Commenting on the development, CA Divya Bhanushali, CPO of TaxBuddy.com, said that this change is quite straightforward for the average retail investor. “If you buy Sovereign Gold Bonds directly from the RBI when they’re issued and simply hold them until they mature in eight years, you pay zero tax on your gains – that’s the benefit being protected here,” she said.
According to her, this move comes to differentiate SGBs from trading instruments as the government wants to reward committed investors, not speculators. “SGBs are meant to be a safe, hassle-free alternative to buying physical gold jewelry or coins for your family’s future. By ensuring only patient, buy-and-hold investors get the tax exemption, the policy reinforces that SGBs are about wealth creation through disciplined savings, not quick profits. The uniformity across all RBI issuances also means every investor gets the same fair treatment, regardless of when they invest,” she added.
The provisions of section 70(1)(x) of the Act provide an exemption from capital gains tax on income arising from the redemption of SGBs issued by the RBI under the scheme that was launched in 2015. The SGBs were issued on a recurring basis through multiple series notified from time to time, each constituting a separate issuance.

These amendments will take effect from April 1, 2026, and will apply to the tax year 2026-27 and subsequent tax years.
The SGB prices across maturities fell sharply on the NSE following the announcement.Sovereign Gold Bonds 2.50% April 2028 SR-I 2020-21, plunged 9% and last traded at Rs 15,960 while Sovereign Gold Bonds 2.50% August 2028 SR-V 2020-21 also closed 9% lower.

It is FM Sitharaman’s ninth consecutive Union Budget

This is only the second instance in the history of Independent India, that stock markets will be open for trading. The last time they were open on a Sunday was February 28, 1999 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Also Read: Budget 2026: PSU bank stocks plunge up to 6%; Bank of India, BoB lead losses

(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)

Business

PAMT CORP: Pain Is Likely To Continue Near-Term (Downgrade)

Published

8 minutes ago

4 February 2026

NewsAdmin

PAMT CORP: Pain Is Likely To Continue Near-Term (Downgrade)

Business

From Pixar to Disney+: The $100-billion blueprint behind Bob Iger’s Disney

Published

17 minutes ago

4 February 2026

NewsAdmin

From Pixar to Disney+: The $100-billion blueprint behind Bob Iger’s Disney

When Bob Iger was promoted to chief executive officer of Walt Disney Co in 2005, he took over a company that was an undeniable force in entertainment and theme parks, but badly in need of rejuvenation.

In one of his first moves, Iger made Disney shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives available for sale on Apple ‘s iTunes platform, ushering in the unique idea of watching TV online. Three months later he bought Pixar from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. That $7.4 billion deal was an eye-popper, paving the way for blockbusters like Cars and Inside Out that reinvigorated Disney’s animated film business.

Those early moves hinted at key parts of Iger’s strategy: acquire marquee entertainment franchises and find new ways to exploit them. As he prepares to hand the reins next month to his successor, theme-parks chief Josh D’Amaro, Iger leaves a legacy that includes snapping up the biggest brand names in Hollywood via more than $100 billion in mergers and acquisitions, expanding in China and building a streaming business that delivered $24.6 billion in revenue from people watching movies and TV shows online last year.

“That’s one huge insight of his,” said David Collis, an executive education fellow at Harvard Business School who has written about Iger. “If you own these incredible entertainment franchises, any device only increases demand for your content.”

More deals followed Pixar, including Marvel Entertainment and its stable of superheroes, Star Wars-parent Lucasfilm and the $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, which brought in franchises like The Simpsons and Avatar.

“The deal we did for Fox, in many ways, was ahead of its time,” Iger said this week on an earnings call when asked about Netflix’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.
Those acquired characters and stories found their way into Disney’s theme parks. In 2013, when the company first began exploring a Star Wars land for the parks, Iger told his designers, “Be the most ambitious that you have ever been,” Bob Weis, the longtime head of Disney’s parks design business, recalled in his 2024 autobiography.Iger was also keen on international expansion, green-lighting the $5.4 billion Shanghai Disneyland. Before its 2016 opening, Iger flew to China on a nearly monthly basis to monitor its progress, according to Weis.

The same year the Fox acquisition closed, Iger launched Disney+, the company’s flagship streaming service, the company’s response to the growing dominance of Netflix in online viewing. Providing a new outlet for programming that ran on networks like the Disney Channel was a threat to the company’s lucrative cable-TV business, but in the end, Iger relented.

Disney+ was a hit from the start. Ten million customers signed up the first day, driven by programming such as the Star Wars-spinoff The Mandalorian. The company reported 132 million Disney+ subscribers at the end of its latest fiscal year.

TV Star
Iger has spent his whole career in the TV business, rising up the ranks at ABC and performing every task, from getting a bottle of Listerine for Frank Sinatra before a TV special to scheduling the 1988 Winter Olympics. He was considered a likely CEO of broadcaster Capital Cities/ABC until that company was acquired by Disney in 1996 and he had to start clawing his way up the corporate ladder again.

When a shareholder revolt finally prompted the retirement of Disney CEO Michael Eisner in 2005, Iger got his shot.

More than 20 years later, the worst grade on Iger’s corporate report card likely comes in succession planning. Multiple extensions of his contract over the years led senior Disney executives to exit. When he finally stepped down for the first time in 2020, his handpicked successor Bob Chapek proved to be disappointment.

As Iger prepares to pass the baton to D’Amaro on March 18, he leaves plenty of work still to be done. On the recent earnings call, Iger said he hoped his replacement would carry on with his focus on reinvention.