Finance minister P Chidambaram announced to levy a commodity transaction tax (CTT) of 0.01 per cent on all non-agro commodity trades such as gold, silver, non-ferrous metals and crude oil. CTT will be similar to the securities transaction tax (STT), levied on the purchase and sale of equities in the stock market. So far, commodity transactions have been exempted from any levy.
However, agricultural commodities will be exempted from CTT. Experts say that levying CTT will not only add to revenue but also create a level playing field between the stock investor and the commodity exchange investor.