New Delhi, August 11, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Regulatory measures introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) helped reduce aggregate losses suffered by retail investors in the equity derivatives segment by 18 per cent to Rs 91,685 crore in FY26, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said SEBI had observed a decline in both the number of individual investors participating in the futures and options (F&O) segment and overall trading activity following regulatory interventions introduced from November 2024.
Retail investors recorded net losses of Rs 1,11,788 crore in FY25, compared with Rs 91,685 crore in FY26, according to the minister.
The number of unique retail investors in the equity derivatives segment also declined by around 20 per cent, from 98.1 lakh in FY25 to 78.6 lakh in FY26.
“Following the regulatory measures, SEBI has observed a year-on-year decline in the number of unique individual investors from 98.10 lakh to 78.60 lakh and net losses of the individuals from Rs 1,11,788 crore to Rs 91,685 crore in the equity derivatives segment in 2025-26, compared to the previous year,” Chaudhary said.
However, the average loss per investor increased to Rs 1,16,654 in FY26 from Rs 1,13,913 in the previous financial year.
Overall turnover in equity derivatives also declined, falling from Rs 213 lakh crore in FY25 to Rs 202 lakh crore in FY26.
SEBI’s regulatory measures included rationalising weekly and monthly index derivatives products, increasing contract sizes for index derivatives and strengthening tail-risk coverage on options expiry days.
The regulator also introduced upfront collection of option premiums from buyers, removed the calendar spread treatment on expiry days and implemented intraday monitoring of position limits.
In May 2025, SEBI introduced additional measures aimed at streamlining expiry days across exchanges and strengthening risk monitoring and disclosure requirements in the F&O segment.
Meanwhile, revenue collected through the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on F&O trades rose sharply to Rs 27,695 crore in FY26 from Rs 7,893 crore a year earlier, Chaudhary said.
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