

Prop brokers' index options market share surges in FY26
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MUMBAI : Proprietary traders, whose cost of capital is set to rise sharply under the banking regulator's new funding directives on capital market exposure, posted a significant increase in market share in the popular index options space. Their gross market share based on premium turnover jumped by 230 basis points (bps) year-on-year to 49.5% in the nine months through 2025-26, according to data sourced from the country's largest stock exchange, National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE).
A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Rival bourse BSE doesn't segregate turnover by market participants. Interestingly, the gross market share of individuals jumped by 380bps to 39.2% in the period.
Together, prop traders—who trade for themselves, not for clients—and individual traders accounted for almost 89% of the gross options premium turnover. Index options include the Nifty 50, the most liquid index contract; the Nifty Bank; the Nifty Midcap Select; and the Finnifty. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs), domestic institutional investors (DIIs), companies and others—partnerships/limited liability partnerships, trusts, societies, etc.—accounted for the rest.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its 13 February directive, stipulated new conditions that consolidate lending to intermediaries within banks' aggregate capital markets exposure. The new rules mandate that prop traders must put up 100% collateral to secure bank guarantees for margin purposes, of which half will be in cash and the other half in cash equivalents like government bonds, sovereign gold bonds, listed equity shares, etc. The new rules take effect from 1 April .
Read on livemint.com