How to reduce tax drag without disturbing long-term compounding
investors may consider a loan against securities (LAS) to meet liquidity needs.Each of these strategies works differently and must align with your holding period, asset mix and financial objectives.Let us examine two specific strategies: tax-loss harvesting and using a loan against securities (LAS) instead of redeeming investments.Tax-loss harvesting tends to work best in volatile markets, particularly when indices correct sharply after a rally—as seen between October 2024 and February 2025. LAS, on the other hand, may be useful in rising markets when short-term liquidity is required, for example to exercise employee stock option plans (ESOPs).Consider Rajesh, an IT professional in his late 40s with a seven-year-old equity mutual fund portfolio.
During the October 2024-March 2025 correction—when the Nifty 50 fell 21%, mid-caps 13% and small-caps about 12%—he decided to restructure his portfolio.Rajesh had realized gains of ₹5 lakh and short-term losses of ₹3 lakh. By offsetting the losses, his net taxable gain fell to ₹2 lakh, reducing his tax liability to ₹25,000 instead of ₹62,500.
The tax saving of ₹37,500 came alongside disciplined portfolio rebalancing.Investors could adopt a similar approach in such phases—booking losses in select mid- and small-cap holdings and using them to offset realized gains from rebalancing.Now consider Priya, who needed ₹20 lakh to purchase ESOPs. Her ₹5.23 crore portfolio had been built over 10 years at an 18% XIRR.Instead of redeeming ₹20 lakh and triggering capital gains tax, she opted for an LAS at 10.25%, with repayment structured over five years.Assuming a 14% annual return going forward, redeeming would have reduced her compounding base and lowered her five-year portfolio value to
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