With the record date of the Infosys buyback upon us, it’s worth understanding how buyback taxation works in India. Thankfully, Nithin Kamath, co-founder and chief executive officer, took it upon himself to do the math.
The ₹18,000-crore Infosys buyback—the largest in India’s history along with Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.’s in 2022—will see India’s second-largest IT firm repurchase up to 10 crore shares at ₹1,800 apiece. That’s a premium of 16% over the current market price of ₹1,550 apiece and represents 2.41% of the company’s total paid-up equity share capital.
The record date is Friday, 14 November 2025.
Infosys Buyback: Record Date
Only shareholders who hold Infosys shares in their demat account by the end of the trading session on Friday are eligible to participate in the buyback offer. Due to the T+1 settlement system, today is the last day to buy Infosys shares and become eligible for the buyback.
- About 15% of the Infosys buyback is reserved for small shareholders holding less than ₹2 lakh in stock. This usually translates into higher acceptance for retail investors.
- Infosys promoters, including co-founders N.R. Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani, are not partipating in the Infosys buyback. Meaning, the acceptance ratio can be even higher.
- The Infosys buyback is being conducted via the “tender offer” route, meaning eligible shareholders have a window to offer their shares to the company.
- The actual acceptance ratio—the percentage of tendered shares that the company repurchases from the market—will be determined later.
Infosys Buyback: Taxation
The money you receive from a buyback is considered as “income from other sources” and it taxed at your applicable slab rate. Thus, the entire investment value is then considered as a capital loss.
- If you first invested in Infosys less than a year ago, then it’s short-term capital loss. If you have been holding for longer, then it becomes long-term capital loss.
Since a capital loss cannot be taxed, the buyback returns essentially look like a dividend, as far as taxation is concerned.
If that’s the case, why participate in a buyback then?
“One scenario where the buyback becomes attractive is when you have other capital gains that can be offset against these capital losses,” Kamath says.
Essentially, capital loss from the Infosys buyback can offset your other capital gains, which means lower “income from other sources” in your ITR forms.