In a bid to curb hyperactivity on expiry days and reduce concentration risk in the derivatives market, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has limited all equity derivatives contracts across stock exchanges to just two days in a week—Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Exchanges will now seek the regulator’s approval before launching or modifying any contract expiry or settlement day. Each exchange will be allowed to retain one weekly benchmark index options contract on either days, and have to submit their proposals to SEBI by June 15.
“In the multi-exchange framework, spacing out of expiry days through the week reduces concentration risk and provides an opportunity for stock exchanges to offer product differentiation to market participants,” SEBI said. “At the same time, too many expiry days has the potential to revive expiry day hyperactivity which could jeopardise investor protection and market stability.”
Apart from benchmark index options contracts, all other equity derivatives contracts will be offered with a minimum tenor of 1 month, and the expiry will be in the last week of every month on the exchange’s chosen day.
Currently, NSE’s derivatives contracts expire on Thursdays, and those of BSE expire on Tuesdays.
Following SEBI’s proposal earlier this year, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) had to defer its plan to shift its index weekly expiries to Mondays. The exchange has now requested to move its expiry day to Tuesday.
If SEBI approves NSE’s request, analysts expect BSE to move to Thursdays to protect its market share. Other exchanges such as the Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSE) and NCDEX which are open to launch their own weekly derivatives contracts will also have to adhere to the two days.
Published on May 26, 2025