A capital asset held for not more than 36 months or less is a short-term capital asset. An asset that is held for more than 36 months is a long-term capital asset.
For example, a house property held for more than 3 years is termed as a long-term capital asset, whereas equity funds are considered short-term when held for 12 months or less. Debt Funds are long-term assets when held for more than 36 months.
It is important to find out the specific holding period applicable to your asset because it impacts how the capital gains will be calculated.
Some assets are considered short-term capital assets when these are held for 12 months or less. This rule is applicable if the date of transfer is after 10th July 2014, irrespective of what the date of purchase is.The assets are:
Equity or preference shares in a company listed on a recognized stock exchange in India
Securities (like debentures, bonds, Govt securities etc) listed on a recognized stock exchange in India
Units of UTI, whether quoted or not
Units of equity oriented mutual fund, whether quoted or not
Zero coupon bonds, whether quoted or not.
When the above listed assets are held for a period of more than 12 months, they are considered long-term capital asset