No more actions on derivatives on anvil: SEBI WTM Narayan

SEBI's Ananth Narayan discusses potential changes to derivatives market, focusing on risk management and market depth.

The capital markets regulator is not planning any more measures to curb or restrict activity in derivatives, SEBI’s Wholetime Member Ananth Narayan said on Saturday (January 11, 2025).

“An expert group under former RBI executive director G. Padmanabhan continues to work on bettering the system, and some moves on ease of doing business and better risk management are being mulled,” he added.

“At this point in time, there is no thought of SEBI taking any further steps in this particular regard,” Mr. Narayan said, addressing an event organised by SEBI-promoted NISM here.

He also made it clear that the SEBI is not mulling any steps on “suitability and appropriability”, which will determine who can trade in the derivatives market.

It can be noted that in November, SEBI imposed a set of restrictions to curb highly speculative trades in the futures and options market after data pointed out that retail investors lost money in 93% of the trades over the last three years.

Making it clear that SEBI has nothing against derivatives and that they help in price discovery and deepening the market, Mr. Narayan assured that the tweaks will be introduced only after consultations.

Some of the measures being discussed within the market regulator include steps to better measure risk in the derivatives market.