India, Feb. 2 -- Zerodha Ltd.'s Nithin Kamath has questioned the rationale of the STT hike on F&O trading, asserting that the impact is skewed.

"I don't know the exact reasoning behind the increase in STT," the co-founder of India's second largest online trading company, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "If the goal was to reduce speculative activity in F&O, then I'm not sure this will do anything."

According to Kamath, the impact of the STT hike is skewed to begin with, for it falls mostly of futures while options-where 95% of trades actually happen-are far more speculative than futures.

Budget 2026: STT Hike on F&O trading

The Union Budget 2026 has proposed a hike in Securities Transaction Tax (STT) to deter participation of newbie inv...