SEBI rolls out common contract note with uniform VWAP for all trades from June 27

A contract note is a key legal document that records all trades made by an investor during the day.

Starting June 27, all trades executed in the Indian stock market will come with a Common Contract Note (CCN) carrying a single Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) announced on July 2.

A contract note is a key legal document that records all trades made by an investor during the day. With this change, instead of receiving separate contract notes for each stock exchange, investors and institutional traders will now get a single, consolidated note with uniform trade details.

“This reform will simplify the post-trade reporting process by consolidating trades executed across multiple exchanges into a single, harmonized document,” SEBI said in its circular. “It will eliminate the need to process multiple contract notes.”

Why it matters

Until now, investors received separate confirmations from each exchange for trades made across multiple platforms. This made reconciliation and compliance difficult, especially for institutional investors. The new CCN format addresses these challenges by streamlining the reporting process.

According to SEBI, the move is aimed at improving cost efficiency, reducing compliance burdens, and ensuring uniformity in trade reporting under the CC interoperability framework.

Moneycontrol first reported on June 27 that the long-awaited CCN rollout had finally begun after months of delay due to operational issues. The initiative, originally scheduled for April, was postponed to iron out glitches found during testing.

Following feedback from mock trading sessions and coordination between SEBI, stock exchanges, and clearing corporations, the system went live on June 27.

“All issues have been resolved, and trades executed from June 27 onwards will follow the common contract note format,” a source told Moneycontrol.

What is included in the CCN?

The Common Contract Note will include key details such as:

Name of the security
Quantity traded
Trade price and time of execution
Brokerage charges
Applicable taxes
Consolidated VWAP across exchanges

This document also serves as proof of trade execution and is vital for record-keeping, tax filings, and even investor protection in case a broker defaults. Investors can claim compensation from the Investor Protection Fund by submitting the contract note as proof of transaction.