Capital gains on sales of assets such as property and gold will decline after the proposal to shift the base year for calculation of the indexation benefit from 1981 to 2001, as announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The cost index helps to increase the price of acquisition of an asset by taking inflation into account.

To calculate the capital gains at the time of selling any property purchased before 1981, its purchase price is now calculated on the basis of the fair market value of 1981. Calculation at the fair market value of 2001 will increase the cost of acquisition and lower the ...