---
title: "Policy Pulse - Ministries & Regulators - 13 Oct 2026"
ticker: "BSE:ANGELONE:MOTILALOFS:IIFL:CDSL:CAMS:KFINTECH:HDFCAMC:POLYCAB:BEL:SOLARINDS:NIBE:SUNPHARMA:CIPLA:PAYTM"
date: "2026-10-13"
tags: ["policy-pulse","capital-markets","taxation","defence","sebi","fii-dii"]
summary: "The Finance Minister said the government will hear views on removing LTCG tax and reframing STT, a debate that lifted the Sensex 1,109 points and the Nifty IT index 5.22%, positive for BSE, ANGELONE and CDSL. BEL disclosed Rs 533 crore of new orders, Polycab fell 5% as the NSE ended its F&O contracts, and the Army inducted 450 loitering munitions from Solar Industries' unit."
model: "deepseek-chat"
---

## The FM Puts LTCG and STT on the Budget Table, and the Market Adds Rs 4.3 Lakh Crore

Finance Minister **Nirmala Sitharaman** said on **October 13** that the government would be "keen to hear views" on the **removal of long-term capital gains tax**, and framed the **securities transaction tax** as part of the same question.

- "LTCG, a lot of people are commenting on, both Indian and foreign investors. This debate on STT in market and question of treating all asset classes similarly, there is a lot of debate. **It is healthy to have this debate.**"
- She stopped well short of promising anything: "We are very close to the Budget and the preparation for the Budget has started, and **it may not be the best time for me to say what I will or what I will not consider**."
- A **senior government official** said the same day that the Centre **has received proposals to review LTCG on equity and is examining them**.
- The push came from **SBI Research**, which on October 12 proposed **abolishing LTCG on equity** and extending the qualifying holding period to two or three years to anchor "hot money" flows. FPIs have sold **Rs 44,166 crore** of Indian equities in October and about **Rs 3.04 lakh crore** in 2026 to date.
- What is actually on the books: **12.5% LTCG on listed equity and equity mutual funds held over 12 months, with Rs 1.25 lakh of annual gains exempt** (July 2024 Budget). Budget 2026 left that structure intact but **raised STT** — futures to 0.05% from 0.02%, options premiums to 0.15% from 0.1%, and exercised options to 0.15% from 0.125%.
- **This is a consultation, not an announcement.** No rate has been changed, and the FM declined to indicate a direction.

The tape took the remarks and ran. **All levels are October 13 closes unless stated.**

- **Sensex +1,109.10 points (+1.54%) to 73,033.78. Nifty 50 +358.60 points (+1.60%) to 22,721.95.** Nifty Bank +1.03% to 55,481.05. BSE-listed market capitalisation rose **Rs 4.31 lakh crore to Rs 469.76 lakh crore**.
- **Nifty IT +5.22% to 29,830.10**, its biggest single-day gain since May 2025. Nifty Realty +2.46%, Financial Services +1.46%, PSU Bank +1.44%, FMCG +1.40%, Auto +1.23%, Metal +1.15%, Media +0.55%. **Nifty Pharma was the sole laggard at -0.01%**; Energy also closed lower.
- Gainers: **HCLTECH +8.28%**, **TCS +6.35%**, **TECHM +4.76%**, **INFY +4.33%**, **SHRIRAMFIN about +6%** on reports of a Mitsubishi UFJ stake increase, HINDUNILVR +2.94%, TRENT +2.61%, BAJAJFINSV +2.40%, BEL +1.70%, HDFCBANK +1.53%. Losers: KOTAKBANK -0.90%, ETERNAL -0.82%, MARUTI -0.60%, MAXHEALTH, POWERGRID, ASIANPAINT.
- **Flows and currency:** FIIs net sold **Rs 1,305.13 crore**, DIIs net bought **Rs 2,439.24 crore**. The **rupee appreciated 40 paise to close at 95.38** (intraday high 94.96), a third straight session of gains after Monday's 93-paise move, with the dollar index at 102.32, down 0.26%.
- Note the earnings overlap: HCLTech's Q2 FY27 beat (PAT Rs 5,132 crore, +21% YoY; EBIT margin 18.2%; bookings USD 3.3bn) did most of the work in IT. Do not attribute that move to the tax remarks alone.

| Stock | Impact | Reason | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| BSE, ANGELONE, MOTILALOFS, IIFL | 🟢 Positive | ✅ the debate is named to specific taxes. Capital-gains and transaction-tax friction is the single largest swing factor for Indian retail and FPI participation, and these are the listed volume and distribution plays | 3/5 |
| CDSL, CAMS, KFINTECH | 🟢 Positive | ⚠️ inferred. Lower transaction friction lifts the demat, registrar and transfer-agency volumes that these businesses bill on | 3/5 |
| HDFCAMC, NAM-INDIA | 🟢 Positive | ⚠️ inferred. An LTCG exemption favours the long-horizon equity savings that AMC AUM and fee pools are built on | 2/5 |
| HDFCBANK, ICICIBANK, KOTAKBANK | 🟡 Watch | ✅ the market's own read: Nifty Bank rose 1.03% on the session, less than the index, and Kotak was among the few large-cap losers | 2/5 |

## BEL Discloses Rs 533 Crore of Fresh Orders in Three Weeks

**Bharat Electronics (BEL)** said on **October 13** that it had received **additional orders worth Rs 533 crore since its last disclosure on September 17, 2026**, filed under Regulation 30 of the SEBI LODR Regulations.

- The order wins span **communication equipment, avionics, cybersecurity solutions, drones, jammers, software solutions, upgrades, spares and services**.
- The Navratna defence PSU **did not provide a customer-wise breakdown or individual contract values**.

| Stock | Impact | Reason | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEL | 🟢 Positive | ✅ named. A Rs 533 crore inflow in under four weeks is roughly a month of mid-teens annual order intake and touches every one of the growth verticals the market is underwriting | 4/5 |
| HAL, BDL, DATAPATTNS, PARAS | 🟡 Watch | ⚠️ inferred. Same procurement counterparty and the same budget line, but no award was named for these companies on this date | 2/5 |

## The Army Takes Delivery of 450 Loitering Munitions — the Order Was Placed in June 2025

The Army has inducted **450 Nagastra-1R loitering munitions**, its largest single batch of the "kamikaze" drones, per the **New Indian Express** on October 13.

- The **Rs 158 crore order was placed in June 2025** under the emergency procurement (EP) powers granted after Operation Sindoor. It is a **follow-on to the earlier EP contract for 480 Nagastra-1** units, inducted through 2024 — the first 120 delivered to the Pulgaon ammunition depot in June that year, with the full lot in by December.
- The manufacturer is Nagpur-based **Solar Defence and Aerospace Ltd (SDAL)**, formerly **Economic Explosives Ltd** — a **wholly owned subsidiary of listed Solar Industries India (SOLARINDS)**.
- The armed forces have signed roughly **Rs 30,000 crore** of emergency procurement contracts, largely for drones, counter-drone systems, radars and electronic warfare equipment.
- **Read this as an induction, not as order inflow.** The award was booked in FY26; what changed on October 13 is that the capability is in service.

| Stock | Impact | Reason | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOLARINDS | 🟢 Positive | ✅ named via its wholly owned subsidiary. The company is the private-sector loitering-munition incumbent and this is the largest single batch acceptance of its product to date | 3/5 |
| NIBE | 🟢 Positive | ✅ named on an earlier award. NIBE is the other listed loitering-munition supplier, having taken 300 of the 840 munitions in the Rs 1,577 crore fast-track order disclosed on October 9 | 2/5 |
| BEL, BDL, DATAPATTNS, PARAS, ZENTEC, IDEAFORGE | 🟢 Positive | ⚠️ inferred. The Rs 30,000 crore emergency-procurement book runs through this supplier set, and counter-drone and electronic warfare are named categories | 2/5 |

## The MoD Signals a 10-15 Year Capability Roadmap and a Rewrite of Acquisition Rules

**A. Anbarasu**, Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition) at the Ministry of Defence, set out the direction on **October 13**:

- A revised **Integrated Capability Development Plan (ICDP)** will lead to a detailed **Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap (TPCR)**, giving industry a **10 to 15 year outlook** on military requirements — explicitly including emerging domains such as **drones and counter-drone systems**.
- A **centre for drone excellence at IIT Kanpur** is to be established as a single research location for the domain.
- The central element of the proposed **Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2026** reforms is a shift **from manufacturing products domestically to India developing and owning critical technologies**.

**No company was named. All mappings below are inferred from the platforms and domains the MoD itself listed.**

| Stock | Impact | Reason | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| HAL, BEL, BDL, ASTRAMICRO | 🟢 Positive | ⚠️ inferred. A 10-15 year demand roadmap is the input these primes need for capital planning, and ownership of critical technology is a design-agency upgrade for all of them | 3/5 |
| IDEAFORGE, ZENTEC, DATAPATTNS, PARAS | 🟢 Positive | ⚠️ inferred. Drones and counter-drone systems are named priority domains, and the IIT Kanpur centre is a research pipeline these specialists recruit from | 3/5 |
| SOLARINDS | 🟢 Positive | ⚠️ inferred. Loitering munitions sit inside the named drone domain, though this roadmap is a planning document rather than an order | 2/5 |

## NSE Ends Polycab's Derivatives Contracts, and the Stock Falls 5%

The National Stock Exchange said, in a circular dated **October 12**, that it will **not introduce contracts for new expiry months in Polycab India** after the existing contract months expire.

- October, November and December 2026 contracts stay available until their respective expiries. New strike prices will still be introduced in the existing months. **The final contract expires on December 30, 2026**, and all positions must be squared off by that maturity.
- The background: an insolvency case alleging **Rs 2.79 crore** of operational dues, in which **NCLAT has stayed** the earlier NCLT order admitting insolvency proceedings. Admission to the IBC framework or NCLT proceedings is among the disqualifiers under SEBI and NSE eligibility criteria, alongside the revised **Rs 1,500 crore** market-wide position limit threshold.
- A stock removed from the F&O segment **cannot be reintroduced for 12 months**, and must then satisfy the eligibility criteria for six consecutive months before the exchange's Risk Management Committee will verify it.
- **Polycab shares fell more than 5% on October 13.**

| Stock | Impact | Reason | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| POLYCAB | 🔴 Negative | ✅ named. Losing the derivatives venue removes the hedging and arbitrage demand that arbitrage and carry strategies bring into the cash market, and the trigger is a legal process rather than a liquidity shortfall | 4/5 |
| BSE, ANGELONE, MOTILALOFS | 🟡 Watch | ⚠️ inferred. One mid-cap leaving the derivatives segment shifts some volume between venues and brokers, but it is not material to the aggregate | 2/5 |

## Flows, Currency and Countdown

- **FIIs have now sold Indian equities for a sixth straight session** — Rs 1,305.13 crore on October 13, after Rs 1,708.48 crore on October 12 and Rs 3,568.90 crore on October 9. October's cumulative FII outflow stands at about **Rs 41,487 crore** through October 12 (seven sessions); DIIs have been net buyers in **every one** of those sessions, cumulatively about **Rs 43,400 crore**, or 104.6% of the FII selling. On an NSE cash-market basis, FIIs have net sold roughly **Rs 4.46 lakh crore** in 2026 against DII net buying of about **Rs 6.73 lakh crore**.
- **The rupee is doing the work on the flows side**: three consecutive sessions of gains to 95.38 after the RBI's October 10 package, which expanded the cash-deposit requirement for FX hedging to all such transactions, restricted IFSC units and primary dealers to offering non-deliverable rupee derivatives for hedging only, and installed the dedicated dollar window for the oil marketing companies.
- **Next in the calendar:** TCS Rs 12 interim dividend record date and US September CPI on **October 14**; the **DGHS expert-committee deadline for the anti-cancer drug positive list** on October 14; **UPI MDR go-live and India's September trade data on October 15**; **HCLTech's record date on October 16**; **Jio Platforms' anchor book on October 19** with subscription **October 21-23** and listing around **October 28**, at a Rs 1,065-1,119 band for a record Rs 30,200 crore issue and a grey-market premium of about Rs 200.

| Stock | Impact | Reason | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| BSE, ANGELONE, MOTILALOFS, IIFL | 🟢 Positive | ✅ the Jio Platforms issue is a record Rs 30,200 crore, the largest Indian IPO ever attempted, and primary-market activity is the most direct revenue driver for listed exchanges and brokers | 3/5 |
| SUNPHARMA, CIPLA, DRREDDY, LUPIN | 🟡 Watch | ⚠️ inferred. The October 14 DGHS deadline for the anti-cancer drug positive list carries a proposed 30% trade-margin cap, which is a price intervention into the oncology channel rather than a volume change | 3/5 |
| PAYTM | 🟡 Watch | ⚠️ inferred. The UPI merchant-discount-rate go-live on October 15 remains in doubt after NPCI and merchant-body pushback, which leaves the economics of third-party UPI acquiring unresolved | 2/5 |

---

*Policy Pulse — Ministries & Regulators. Where an official release named no company, the mapping is marked ⚠️ inferred and scored down; where a company is named in the release or a Regulation 30 filing it is marked ✅. No buy or sell recommendation is made — direction and confidence only.*