NSE CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan said regulatory measures in the derivatives market will not slow market participation, pointing to the large pool of potential retail investors in India. Speaking to NDTV Profit on the sidelines of the National Stock Exchange's stock market debut on Thursday, Chauhan said participation would continue as the market becomes safer and more reliable.
“People think market will slow down, but it historically never does,” Chauhan said. “India has a huge runway of new retail investors.”
NSE shares were trading at Rs 1,844.80, up Rs 44.80, or 2.49%, according to the BSE data.
Also Read | Layoffs Are Rising In Tech, But These Skills Are Helping People Unlock Better Pay
Retail Runway
Chauhan's comments come as SEBI reviews changes to the derivatives market and the functioning of its Closing Auction Session.
SEBI's FY26 study found that 87.7% of individual equity-derivatives traders recorded net losses, while aggregate net losses stood at Rs 91,685 crore. The number of active individual traders fell to 87.5 lakh from 106.2 lakh in FY25, while new entrants declined to 20.8 lakh from 34.3 lakh.
CAS Review
SEBI introduced the Closing Auction Session for stocks with derivatives contracts from Aug. 3. Under CAS, the closing price is determined through an auction based on buy and sell orders, replacing the earlier method based on the volume-weighted average price of trades in the final 30 minutes of continuous trading.
SEBI's latest consultation paper says derivatives activity remains concentrated towards the end of the trading session. On NSE, average premium traded per minute between 3:20 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. during CAS was Rs 189.82 crore, compared with Rs 126.31 crore during the 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. period before CAS.
The regulator has proposed two options for expiry-day settlement: a blended VWAP using trades in the last 30 minutes of continuous trading and 10 minutes of CAS, or a return to the earlier 30-minute continuous-trading VWAP method. Under the second option, SEBI said a move to the blended method may be considered only after at least one year.
One editorial point: I would retain “F&O curbs” in the headline only if that is the search/Discover angle you specifically want. In the body, “regulatory measures in the derivatives market” is more precise because CAS is a change to the closing-price mechanism, while SEBI's broader F&O measures are separate.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
