Now Reading: Sebi steps trim retail F&O losses to Rs 91,685 crore in FY26
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Sebi steps trim retail F&O losses to Rs 91,685 crore in FY26
New Sebi rules on margins and contract sizes have pulled aggregate retail investor losses in equity futures and options down 18%, from about Rs 1.1 lakh crore in FY25 to Rs 91,685…
The Story in Brief
New Sebi rules on margins and contract sizes have pulled aggregate retail investor losses in equity futures and options down 18%, from about Rs 1.1 lakh crore in FY25 to Rs 91,685 crore in FY26, the finance ministry told Parliament on August 11. The number of unique retail traders in the segment also fell sharply to 78.6 lakh from 98.1 lakh. However, average loss per retail trader rose to Rs 1.2 lakh from Rs 1.1 lakh, and securities transaction tax collections from F&O trades jumped to Rs 27,695 crore versus Rs 7,893 crore a year earlier, the reply stated.
The Indian Opinion
Market chatter credits Sebi’s tougher margins and contract sizes for curbing F&O mayhem. True, aggregate retail losses fell by nearly Rs 20,000 crore. Yet the average loss per person actually inched up to Rs 1.2 lakh, meaning the remnant traders are gambling harder and losing more. The bigger question is for the government: with STT collections from F&O surging to Rs 27,695 crore from just Rs 7,893 crore a year ago, does it still have an incentive to rein in this casino? Watch the next Rajya Sabha dataset for per-investor loss trajectory.
Sources (2): timesofindia.indiatimes.com, timesnownews.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
