Tale of the Tape 

Howdy folks. Welcome back to the Daily Rip! 

Nifty and Sensex ended a topsy-turvy day with minor losses. Midcaps (+0.1%) and Smallcaps (-0.3%) traded mixed. The advance-decline ratio was in favour of the bears (3:2). Check out the Stocktwits Sentiment Meter:

Most sectors ended in the green. Real Estate (+1.3%), Metals (+1.2%) and IT (+0.8%) were the top gainers. Oil & Gas (-0.8%) and PSU Banks (-0.4%) saw some selling pressure.

Helios Capital’s Samir Arora says FIIs are being treated unfairly on the tax front. Read our top story below to get the rundown on the fierce debate.

Ex-SEBI chief Madhabi Buch is under fire yet again. More details below on an FIR that this shaky market does not need.

Market infra and broking stocks took a beating today. Check out their charts below to find out why.

REC (+5%) and PFC (+4%) after Global brokerage firm CLSA upgraded their rating on them to “High Conviction Outperform”.

TVS Motor (+5%) and Eicher Motors (+4%) were up big time after they reported better-than expected sales in February.

Coal India (-2%) was the top Nifty loser after it reported a production drop in February. This means that they could miss their annual target, which sucks!

Ola Electric Mobility fell -3% after Bloomberg reported the company would cut over a 1,000 jobs. PS - the stock is down -9% in the last week.

Coffee Day was locked in a +20% upper circuit after the NCLAT overturned an insolvency plea in its Rs 228 cr default case.

Astrazeneca Pharma India was up +3% after getting the Indian regulatory nod to expand the use of its cancer drug.

Here are the closing prints:

Market
We Miss You FIIs

As you all know, FII selling is one of the main reasons behind the Indian market’s sell-off. For context, foreign investors have pulled out +Rs 1 lakh cr in 2025 so far. There’s multiple reasons why this is happening, but something that’s been understated is India’s restrictive capital tax regime!

ICYMI - Helios Capital’s Samir Arora had a viral take that cuts deep. For the unaware, most countries around the world don’t subject foreign funds to capital gains tax. In the US for example, non-residents are required to pay only in their country of origin! This is why many funds are structured in capital gains free zones like Singapore or the Cayman Islands. And before you think it, it’s not really about dirty tax evasion. Most countries including Japan and the UK believe that it’s important to attract foreign capital, which is why they don’t subject them to taxation.

India, on the other hand… isn’t that far-sighted. The GOI has ALWAYS demanded its pound of flesh. To make matters worse, they raised the LTCG to 12.5% recently. Foreign funds already deal with headaches like currency fluctuations and with the US looking more attractive, this could’ve been the final straw. Arora argues that most years, the GOI probably collects just $2 to $3 billion in LTCG which is something that could be foregone.

Big Picture: Yes, there are other factors that are also scaring FIIs off. But the GOI desperately needs to introspect on our need for foreign capital. As Zerodha’s Nitin Kamath put it recently, this downturn has seen trading volumes drop 30% and shows that our markets are still “shallow”, with only 1-2 crore Indians actually trading actively. FIIs will need to fill that gap and fixing the LTCG pain point might be a good first step.

Stocktwits Specials
Stocks To Buy In This Fall

Markets have seen a healthy correction from their all-time highs. Experts say this may be one of the best times to build your portfolio. Here are 5 midcap & smallcap stocks that you must absolutely not miss according to market experts.