Retail traders lost $9.6 billion in equity derivatives

Individuals in India lost 916.85 billion rupees ($9.6 billion) buying and selling equity futures and options in the year ended March, down from 1.1 trillion rupees a year earlier, the government told lawmakers on Tuesday.

The number of individual traders in equity derivatives fell to fewer than 7.9 million from 9.8 million a year earlier, according to a written reply by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary.

The shrinking participation shows the impact of the measures taken by the Securities and Exchange Board of India and policymakers to curb excessive speculative activity. Over the past two years, the regulator has raised contract sizes, tightened position limits and introduced other safeguards to temper retail participation in options, while the central bank last month implemented tighter funding rules for proprietary traders and stock brokers.

The crackdown is taking a toll. The average daily notional turnover for futures and options listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. declined 23% to 214 trillion rupees ($2.2 trillion) in July from June, a 17-month low.