The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Thursday has proposed standardising expiry days for equity derivatives across exchanges, limiting them to either Tuesday or Thursday.
Each exchange must select one of the two days for all its derivatives contracts, including stock and index options and futures, according to according to SEBI's consultation paper. The move aims to provide predictability for market participants, reduce concentration risk, and ensure market stability.
The move came, after the NSE, on March 5, announced it had shifted the monthly and quarterly expiry days for Nifty, Bank Nifty, FinNifty, Nifty Midcap Select, and Nifty Next 50 futures and options to the last Monday of the expiry month. BSE has said it will seek market feedback before responding to changes in derivatives expiry rules.
Under the regulator's proposal, each exchange can offer weekly expiry only for one benchmark index options contract on its chosen day. All other equity derivatives contracts—benchmark index futures, non-benchmark index F&O, and single stock F&O—will have a minimum one-month tenure and expire on the last Tuesday or last Thursday of the month, depending on the exchange's chosen day. Any modifications to expiry days will require SEBI's prior approval.
SEBI has invited public comments on the consultation paper until April 17.
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