Business

Sharp hike in STT pulls Nifty and Sensex down by 2%; brokerages feel the heat

Published

3 days ago

2 February 2026

Sharp hike in STT pulls Nifty and Sensex down by 2%; brokerages feel the heat

Sunday circled back to a period when most of today’s active traders weren’t even born—July 2004. After a surprise summer poll victory, the then finance minister P Chidambaram introduced the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) for the first time in the cash market. That caused Indian equities to crater. Sunday was no different. With India now the global derivatives leader, higher STT on futures and options caused the Nifty and the Sensex to lose 2% each.

CURBING SPECULATION
Sunday’s proposal, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, seeks to curb F&O speculation. “Higher taxation across both the F&O segments will affect market participants across the board including retail traders, institutions, high-frequency traders, proprietary desks, algorithmic traders, brokers and exchanges,” said Rajesh Palviya, head of technical and derivatives research, Axis Securities.
The Centre raised the STT—a levy collected at the time of the trade—on futures to 0.05% from 0.02% and on options premium, and the exercise of options, to 0.15% from 0.10% and 0.125%, respectively. Brokers said futures outgo would rise 150%. For instance, STT on one lot of Nifty Futures at 25,000 levels will increase to Rs 812 from Rs 325 come April 1. On options, the tax on premiums will climb 50%. On exercising options, it will be 20% higher. “In the near term, the sharp increase in STT is a headwind, as it materially raises hedging and trading costs,” said Ankur Jhaveri, MD & CEO, institutional equities, JM Financial Institutional Securities. “This is likely to impact market liquidity and increase impact costs.”

BROKERS BATTERED

Brokers were top losers on Sunday, with the Nifty’s Capital Markets index tumbling 5.8%. Angel One fell 8.6%. BSE, Nuvama Wealth, CDSL, and Billionbrains Garage Ventures (Groww) dropped between 5% and 8%. “Brokers have already been seeing a drop in active clients, with derivatives volumes trending lower over the past year, and we expect this trend to continue after the announcement,” said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president–research, Religare Broking. “However, retail participation is unlikely to be significantly impacted, as most retail traders operate with small lot sizes and are typically options buyers, and will see a lower cost impact.”

Palviya said brokers are struggling to retain clients due to the pressure on returns in the past 15- 16 months. “The rise in derivatives trading costs is set to further strain their profitability,” he said. The move is a setback for foreign funds struggling with underperformance in Indian stocks. “The cost of trade for FPIs will definitely go up, and may impact their trading activities, as they use derivatives for hedging their cash market positions,” said Prayesh Jain, capital market analyst, institutional equities, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
“We may see the effect from the next quarter onward as the new taxes will be implemented from April 1.” Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth `31,901 crore in January. “Higher transaction costs remain a concern for the investor community, and FIIs may view India less favourably when comparing trading costs across global markets,” said Jhaveri.

Business

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

Published

3 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

11 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.