Now Reading: India prop traders’ derivatives profit falls 3% to Rs 44,500 crore
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India prop traders’ derivatives profit falls 3% to Rs 44,500 crore
India prop traders’ derivatives profit falls 3% to Rs 44,500 crore
Proprietary trading firms in India posted a gross profit of Rs 44,500 crore from equity derivatives in the year ended March 2026, down 3% from a year earlier, according to a Securities…
Proprietary trading firms in India posted a gross profit of Rs 44,500 crore from equity derivatives in the year ended March 2026, down 3% from a year earlier, according to a Securities and Exchange Board of India study. The decline came as regulatory curbs introduced in late 2024 to cool an options boom took effect and a lackluster market made it harder to profit, Livemint reports citing the study.
The benchmark Nifty 50 index is little changed from two years ago, and Indian equities have fallen 9.1% in dollar terms in 2026, Business Today reports citing Bank of America data. India recorded equity outflows of $10.5 billion year-to-date. Individual traders' losses narrowed to Rs 72,200 crore from Rs 97,900 crore, the SEBI study showed.
SEBI has increased contract sizes, tightened position limits and introduced other safeguards to limit excessive retail participation. Losses of individual traders were broadly matched by profits of corporate and institutional participants, the regulator said.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Both sources report the same factual decline but frame it differently. Livemint leads with SEBI's study showing prop trader profits down 3% and presents the regulatory curbs as having the intended effect, quoting a fund manager. Business Today leads with BofA data showing India as the worst-performing major equity market in dollar terms in 2026, highlighting $10.5 billion in outflows. Livemint's framing implies the market is cooling in a controlled way, Business Today's suggests a broader loss of investor confidence. The middle ground: SEBI's curbs are working, but external factors like oil prices and global risk appetite are also weighing on Indian equities. Watch for the next SEBI study on retail participation and the Nifty's direction as energy costs rise.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): livemint.com (neutral report), businesstoday.in (neutral report)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
