Govt is not here to shut the door on F&O trading: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on November 6 said the government is "not here to shut the door on futures and options trading".

"Government is here to remove the roadblocks and work on them," said Sitharaman at the 12th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave 2025 in Mumbai.

It is investors' responsibility to understand the associated risks, added Sitharaman.

Greater financial awareness can be built by reaching out to people in every village, she said.

News reports earlier this year said government wants to deepen cash market volume and reduce speculation through weekly expiries.

Last month, SEBI chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey said "we cannot just shut down weekly F&O expiries, many market participants are using this".

"This (weekly F&O expiry) is very sensitive subject and has a lot of nuances. There has been a problem in the derivatives market, which has been highlighted by SEBI," said Pandey at BS BFSI Summit.

"Need to see irrational exuberance is in control for smaller or lesser savvy market participants. How can we shut down the weekly options market just like that? SEBI will do further data crunching on weekly options issue," Pandey added.

FM at SBI Conclave 2025

Sitharaman November 6 said the country needs big and world-class banks, and discussions are on with the Reserve Bank and lenders in this regard.

Addressing the 12th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave 2025, Sitharaman asked lenders to deepen and widen credit flow to the industry, exuding confidence that GST rate cut-driven demand would unleash a virtuous investment cycle.

Stressing that India needs a lot of big and world-class banks, she said the "government is looking at this and work has already commenced. We are discussing with the RBI. We are discussing with banks".

As part of the privatisation exercise, the government in January 2019 sold its controlling 51% stake in IDBI Bank to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

She emphasised that infrastructure creation is the government's main focus, and capital expenditure has increased fivefold in the last decade.