India says retail option trader losses fell 18% after regulatory curbs

Indian retail traders lost 916.85 billion rupees, or 9.61 billion dollars, on equity derivatives in the year to March 2026, according to Business Recorder. That is close to an 18% decline from the previous year. Individual participants in the segment also dropped by almost a fifth, reaching 7.86 million.

The government tied the fall in participants to a set of measures the Securities and Exchange Board of India has rolled out across the past 18 months, aimed at reducing speculative trading. A regulator study showed that, on average, 9 out of 10 participants in the segment ended with losses. More than 130 million individuals trade here, and the segment ranks as the world's largest equity derivatives market by volume.

Retail participants have posted losses in every one of the past five fiscal years, peaking at 1.12 trillion rupees in the year to March 2025 before easing in FY26. Turnover in the segment fell from 213 trillion rupees to 202 trillion rupees, as shown in a written answer from Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary to Parliament.