Capital Gains in 2026: Two Days That Cost INR 91,000

In January 2024, Arjun sold INR 10 lakh of HDFC shares he had held for 11 months 20 days. His STCG tax: INR 2 lakh. If he had waited 10 more days, his LTCG tax would have been INR 1.09 lakh. That is INR 91,000 - a domestic flight to Europe - lost to the timing gods.

Short-term vs long-term, by asset class

The tax code cares about how long you held before you sold. The threshold differs by asset:

Debt mutual funds are a special case: post April 2023, gains are taxed at your slab rate regardless of holding period. Indexation benefit is gone.

Crypto / VDA is even flatter: a 30% tax, 1% TDSon transfers, no holding-period benefit, no loss offset against other income.

Play with the calculator

Pick an asset class, enter your buy/sell dates and amounts. The calculator shows classification, tax, and - if you are close to the long-term threshold - how much you would save by holding a few more days.