New Delhi: Securities trades done through the Negotiated Dealing System will be exempted from a 0.15 transaction tax proposed in Budget for 2004/05, an government official said today

Ashok Lahiri, chief economic adviser to the government, told reporters that primary dealers and brokers would be exempted from the tax if they are not buyers.

The proposed tax was aimed at curbing "very, very short-term speculative trades", he said.

He also said the exemption of primary dealers and brokers from the tax was "an issue".