SEBI Open Market Buy-Backs Return: IT & FMCG to Win

SEBI Open Market Buy-Backs Are Back. What Changes August 1. SEBI's amended Buy-back of Securities Regulations, effective August 1, 2026, restore a route that listed companies haven't used in years: open market buy-backs through stock exchanges. Companies now have 66 working days to complete a buy-back under this method, sitting alongside the existing tender offer and book-building routes. The investment angle runs deeper than the headline suggests. The open market route matters because it gives management teams flexibility that a tender offer doesn't. Under a tender offer, companies fix a price and a window. Under the exchange route, they can buy when the stock dips, which tends to make the capital deployment more efficient. For shareholders, that's a real distinction, not a minor one. SEBI's move doesn't exist in a vacuum. India's listed companies, particularly in IT services and consumer goods, are sitting on some of the fattest cash piles in their histories. [Infosys](/stock/INFY) ended FY25 with free cash flow of approximately ₹20,500 crore. [TCS](/stock/TCS) generated over ₹46,000 crore in operating cash flow in FY25. These aren't companies that need the money. They need somewhere to put it. IT Sector Has the Most to Gain The IT sector is the most obvious beneficiary of this regulatory shift. NSE: INFY, NSE: TCS, NSE: WIPRO, and NSE: HCLTECH have each run buy-back programs before, and each has the balance sheet to run them again. The EPS math is straightforward: reduce share count, and earnings per share rise even if net profit stays flat. For a sector facing revenue growth headwinds from global macro uncertainty and AI-driven pricing pressure, EPS accretion through buy-backs is one of the cleaner levers available. WIPRO has historically been the most aggressive buyer of its own stock among the large-cap IT names. Between FY20 and FY23, it ran multiple buy-backs, spending over ₹25,000 crore across those programs. [Wipro](/stock/WIPRO) currently trades at ...