Weekly F&O curbs soon? Sebi chief keeps investors guessing with teasing comments

Sebi will introduce new measures for the derivatives market in a phased manner, Chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Friday, signalling that the regulator is focused on strengthening the futures and options (F&O) segment without disrupting participation.

Speaking at the Business Standard BFSI Summit 2025, Pandey said Sebi has already taken several steps to make the derivatives market more resilient and will continue to do so gradually after consulting all stakeholders.

He emphasised that the regulator does not intend to abruptly halt weekly expiries, which have become popular among traders and institutions. Pandey further said Sebi’s goal is to enhance market structure and transparency rather than restrict access.


The regulator, he added, will soon release a consultation paper to gather feedback from participants before finalising any changes.

Pandey's comments come at a time when market participants are eagerly awaiting updates on potential reforms in the high-volume futures and options segment. Over the past year, Sebi has tightened oversight of India’s booming derivatives market, which accounts for nearly 95% of the NSE’s total turnover.

The segment has drawn intense scrutiny after the regulator’s internal study last year revealed that retail investors lost nearly Rs 1.8 lakh crore in F&O trading over three years, largely due to speculative bets on short-term options.

In response, Sebi rolled out a series of reforms aimed at reducing excessive speculation and improving risk management.

The measures included increasing contract sizes of options, limiting weekly expiries to one per exchange, revising the eligibility criteria for derivatives on non-benchmark indices, and tightening market-wide position limits.

The regulator also introduced changes to pre-open and post-market sessions and mandated a shift to a delta-based calculation of open interest instead of a notional one — a move that allows open positions to be measured by real risk exposure, helping curb speculative build-up and manage systemic risk more effectively.

Earlier this year, Sebi proposed extending the maturity and tenure of derivative contracts to discourage short-term trading and promote longer holding periods. Exchanges have also implemented reforms to comply with Sebi’s framework.

Starting in September, the NSE and BSE swapped their weekly expiry days, with NSE moving to Tuesday and BSE shifting to Thursday. The move was designed to balance liquidity between the two exchanges and reduce crowding in the weekly options segment.

Despite some of these measures impacting short-term traders, the broader market has largely welcomed Sebi’s consultative approach.

Pandey’s comments also brought renewed attention to another long-pending issue — the NSE IPO. The Sebi chief said the NSE listing “will see the light of day,” the clearest indication yet that the exchange’s long-delayed IPO is back on track after years of regulatory and governance hurdles.