Budget Proposes Hike In Securities Transaction Tax On Futures And Options

The Union Budget 2026–27 on Sunday proposed an increase in Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures and options trades.Presenting the Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced higher STT rates for derivative transactions. “I propose to raise the STT on Futures to 0.05 per cent from the present 0.02 per cent,” she said. The Finance Minister also proposed a hike in STT on options. “STT on options premium and exercise of options are both proposed to be raised to 0.15 per cent from...

'Would US Courts Do the Same?' Supreme Court Questions Pfizer On Plea To Access Indian Company's Documents

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned whether foreign courts and Western authorities would reciprocate when Indian courts seek assistance through Letters Rogatory, while hearing a plea by US pharmaceutical major Pfizer. A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was considering Pfizer's challenge to a Madras High Court judgment refusing to enforce Letters Rogatory issued by a United States court to obtain documents and testimony from Chennai-based Softgel...

US Class Action Lawsuit Alleges WhatsApp, Meta Can Access Encrypted Messages

A class action lawsuit filed recently in a US federal court in California accuses Meta Platforms Inc. and its subsidiary WhatsApp LLC of misleading users worldwide about the privacy of their messages. The case focuses on WhatsApp's repeated promise that messages sent on the platform are protected by end-to-end encryption and cannot be accessed by anyone other than the sender and the recipient, not even WhatsApp or Meta. The plaintiffs say that promise is false. According to the complaint,...