Day traders contribute up to 40-50 per cent of the daily turnover in the market.

Day traders would abstain from trading on Tuesday to protest the Budget proposal on Securities Transaction Tax (STT), which would make their activity in the stock market unattractive.

The Budget proposes to withdraw the STT benefit under Section 88 E disallowing STT as deductible expenditure while computing income from business. Day traders or jobbers do buying and selling with a view to take advantage of the short-term price movements during the day. The STT provisions in the Union Budget 2008 will lead up to 70 per cent of the arbitrageurs income flowing out in forms of various taxes, said Mr Rajesh Baheti, Managing Director of Crossseas Capital Services. There are around 50 specialist broking firms in Mumbai whose main job is arbitrage in the stock market, arbitrage and non-delivery based market making activity that contributes to the liquidity in the market.

They contribute up to 40-50 per cent of the daily turnover in the market.

Already we were paying Rs 50-60 as STT on income of Rs 100 but now with the fresh provisions, we will be paying additional Rs 15-16 approximately on Rs 40 income, Mr Baheti said. This kind of activity is confined to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and now some desks has also opened in Jaipur, he said. According to analyst around 10,000 people were engaged in day trading.