Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while referring to the debate over the futures and options trading, suggested on Thursday that the government is not looking to prohibit it.
The government is "not here to shut the door on futures and options trading", reports quoted her as saying at the 12th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave 2025 in Mumbai.
The government's role, added Sitharaman, is to "remove the roadblocks and work on them". At the same time, the investors have the responsibility to understand the risks involved, she pointed out.
Sitharaman's comments comes days after Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairperson Tuhin Kanta clarified that the regulator cannot abruptly end weekly F&O expiries.
"This (weekly F&O expiry) is a very sensitive subject and has a lot of nuances. There has been a problem in the derivatives market, which has been highlighted by Sebi," Pandey said at an industry event in Mumbai.
"How can we shut down the weekly options market just like that? We will do further data crunching on the weekly options issue," Pandey added. While the concerns related to the retail frenzy in derivatives segment are valid, an outright ban is not a feasible measure, he further said.
Following the crackdown on the US-based trading firm Jane Street earlier this year, SEBI planned a major public campaign on cyber frauds and F&O risks.
A study released by the market watchdog in July showed nearly 91% of individual traders incurred losses in F&O trading in fiscal year 2025. The findings also revealed that the net losses of individual traders widened by 41% to Rs 1.06 lakh crore in FY25 from Rs 74,812 crore in FY24.
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