India's Sebi proposed measures to curb speculative trading in index derivatives to enhance investor protection, promote market stability, and address high implicit leverage in options contracts.

India's market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), proposed measures to curb speculative trading in index derivatives, including increasing minimum contract size, upfront collection of option premiums, restricting multiple option contract expiries, and intraday monitoring of position limits. The proposed changes aim to enhance investor protection, promote market stability, and address issues of high implicit leverage in options contracts near expiry. The notional value of traded index options increased from $447.28 trillion in 2022-2023 to $907.09 trillion in 2023-2024, with retail investor participation in derivative trading volumes rising to 41% in 2024 from 2% in 2018.