The financial year 2017-18 has been witness to not only a run up in the primary market space but also stood as the best year in terms of share buyback or repurchase by companies since 2009 as per a leading business daily report.

Share buyback in the last 2 years is primarily led by companies from the PSU and information technology space. In the year 2017-18 as against the offer amount of Rs. 50,905 crore, the companies bought back or repurchased shares worth Rs. 52,350 cr as against the previous year's buyback amount of Rs. 33,931 crore.

Among the major buybacks of the FY 2017-18 are TCS (Rs. 16,000 cr), Infosys (Rs. 13,000 cr), Wipro (Rs. 11,000 cr), HCL( Rs. 3500 cr). Also, some 12 PSU companies launched buyback offer to meet divestment targets.

The healthy surge in buyback was seen due to the dividend distribution tax, additional dividend tax which was introduced from April 1, 2016 and lack of expansion of the companies which prompted firms to use their cash reserves to improve their book value.

Additional dividend tax is the tax amount charged @ 10% for dividend received over Rs. 10 lakhs in the hands of the recipient.

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