India’s average options trade value is $100, very low compared to developed countries, says NSE’s Ashish Chauhan

Ashish Chauhan, MD & CEO, NSE

Ashish Chauhan, managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), offered a nuanced take on India’s No. 1 status in derivatives trading, arguing that the top ranking alone presents an incomplete and misleading picture of the market.

“India’s per trade value in options is close to $100, which is very, very low compared to developed countries, which have very, very large per trade value,” Chauhan said at the Moneycontrol Global Wealth Summit 2025 in Mumbai. “That’s why our number one status is not justified. It is like comparing grapes to a watermelon.”

Chauhan also called for a single expiry date for derivative contracts across exchanges and emphasised the need to shift focus from sheer trading volume to the underlying value and long-term sustainability of the Indian futures and options market.

Chauhan also highlighted the increasing fragmentation of the options market due to multiple exchanges introducing daily expiries. While the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) sought to limit the number of expiries in a week to protect retail investors, exchanges are attempting to establish their own expiry dates. Instead, Chauhan advocated for a single expiry date across all exchanges to maintain market order.

“As of now, there are 2-3 more exchanges trying to come up with their daily expiry on different dates, defeating the purpose of SEBI’s regulations to not have too many expiries in a week to protect small investors. There might be many more new exchanges that may come up and ask for additional days in a week for their own daily expiries, which might require other days to be added to the week. That’s why there should be a single expiry date for all exchanges in a week instead of every exchange having a different day for their own contract expiry in a week,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Chauhan reiterated NSE’s support of SEBI’s regulations and approach. “All tough-looking regulations brought in by SEBI in the past five years or 30 years have brought more investor trust and participants. NSE fully supports all SEBI measures,” he said.

On risk management, Chauhan suggested that incentives for early rollover and penalties for last-minute trades could help mitigate concentration risks. He acknowledged that risk management will remain an evolving challenge requiring continuous regulatory adaptation.

“There is no magic pill,” he said. “Basis the evolving situations, risks in different areas will become more important to manage and regulators will have to come up with newer and newer risk management measures each time.”