Trading in equity derivatives at the country’s stock exchanges recorded a turnover of over 11 times of the trade volumes in the cash market during the last fiscal.
The total turnover in equity derivative segment stood at Rs 321.6 lakh crore in last fiscal, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in its latest annual report.
“The equity derivatives segment is the most active derivatives market in India. During 2011-12, turnover of derivatives market exceeded the all-India cash market turnover by over 11 times,” Sebi said.
The turnover in cash market is around Rs 30 lakh crore. In the cash segment, the investors and traders buy and sell shares of the companies, while in the derivatives market the trading takes place in forward futures and options contracts of individual stocks and indices.
According to the data compiled by the regulator, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) continues to dominate trading in derivative segment with more than 99 per cent share of the total turnover, although BSE has also registered a significant surge from the year-ago levels.
While cash segment turnover in India fell by 25 per cent in the last fiscal, the volumes rose by about 10 per cent in the derivatives segment at the two exchanges put together.
The total number of contracts traded in the derivative segment of NSE increased to 120.5 crore in 2011-12 from 103.42 crore in 2010-11.
In terms of value, turnover at NSE rose by 7.2 per cent to Rs 313.5 lakh crore in 2011-12 from the previous fiscal level.
At the BSE, the number of contracts stood at 3.22 crore in 2011-12, exponentially above 5,623 contracts in 2010-11.