These include receipts on account of management of equity investments and public assets through various mechanisms

With an estimated ₹80,000 crore to be mopped up under ‘Miscellaneous Capital Receipts’, the Government aims to push asset monetisation during Fiscal Year 2026-27. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that 10 per cent of nominal GDP growth is realistic.

Addressing a post-Budget press conference, Sitharaman said: “Inflation is down and staying down. Because inflation is the heaviest weight in the GDP deflator, the assumption of nominal GDP is realistic.” As per the Budget document, India’s GDP growth in absolute terms is estimated at ₹393 lakh crore. This growth is with the base year 2011-12, which is set to be revised and new GDP data will be out on February 27.

On the issue of increase in Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on future & options, she said such a move is aimed at curbing high-risk speculative trade and discouraging gullible investors who were losing huge amounts of money in the derivatives market. The Budget has proposed an increase in STT on futures contracts to 0.05 per cent from 0.02 per cent. STT on options premium and exercise of options are proposed to be raised to 0.15 per cent from the present rate of 0.1 per cent and 0.125 per cent, respectively.

“This nominal increase is purely aimed at speculation, only to deter them, to discourage them. We are not against it, but small investors are facing losses, so how can we be quiet, so it is to deter such investments,” Sitharaman said.

The Budget has raised the budget estimates under ‘Miscellaneous Capital Receipts’ to ₹80,000 crore from revised estimates of ₹33,817 crore.  These include receipts on account of management of equity investments and public assets through various mechanisms. When asked whether such a higher estimates means monetisation of equities or monetisation of assets, Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur said: “It will be more of assets monetisation as a strong pipeline was announced.”

Budget documents do not use the word ‘disinvestment’. Rather, proceeds from equity sales are part of ‘Miscellaneous Capital Receipts.’ This head also include assets monetisation. During the current fiscal, till date, while stake sale has given over ₹8,700 crore, monetisation yielded over ₹18,800 crore.

Net market borrowings

On whether the borrowing numbers are high, Thakur said net market borrowings are in the range of ₹11.73 lakh crore, which is around that number for the last couple of years. “The larger number is because we have ₹5.5 lakh crore which have to be repaid this year. So, to that extent we don’t think that it’s a large number,” she said.

Thakur further said the reason for buybacks and switching is basically to reduce the government’s repayment burden and to mitigate the bunching up effect and also to manage the costs. “We did a significant switching of high coupon securities this year. Next year this ₹5.5 lakh crore needs to be repaid. As they keep coming up, we will be making decisions,” she added.

Published on February 1, 2026