The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed the NSE and the BSE to have Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, as the final settlement day, or expiry day, for derivatives contracts.
Prior to this revision, the NSE’s expiry day for derivatives contracts was Thursday, and that of BSE was Tuesday.
“SEBI has agreed to the expiry day proposed by BSE (i.e. Thursday),” the BSE said in a circular.
In a separate circular, the NSE said that the regulator has agreed to the expiry day proposed by it, which is Tuesday.
To keep the expiry day of derivatives contracts unchanged for already introduced contracts, with the exception of long-dated index options contracts, both stock exchanges will suitably realign expiry day as per the practice followed in the past.
For new contracts, stock exchanges will continue with their respective present expiry day for derivative contracts which expire on or before August 31, 2025.
For the new derivative contracts which expire on or after September 1, 2025, the NSE will change the expiry date to Tuesday, while the BSE will change it to Thursday.
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The BSE said that from September 1, 2025, monthly contracts would expire on the last Thursday of the month. The stock exchange also said that it will not introduce any fresh weekly contracts on index futures from July 1, 2025.
“This divergence creates an interesting dynamic—while NSE moves closer to global standards, BSE now has a chance to differentiate itself, though it may face liquidity fragmentation,” said Puneet Sharma, CEO and Fund Manager, Whitespace Alpha CAT 3 AIF (Alternative Investment Fund).
The real impact will be felt across the ecosystem – institutional investors will need to adapt to dual settlement cycles, brokers must update collateral and risk systems, and retail participants will require guidance to navigate the new landscape, he said.
In a circular issued last month, the markets regulator said that expiries of all equity derivatives contracts of an exchange will be uniformly limited to either Tuesday or Thursday. It also said that every exchange will continue to be allowed one weekly benchmark index options contract on their chosen day (Tuesday or Thursday).
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SEBI had said that in the multi exchange framework, spacing out of expiry days through the week reduces concentration risk and provides an opportunity to stock exchanges to offer product differentiation to market participants. At the same time, too many expiry days has the potential to revive expiry day hyperactivity which could jeopardize investor protection and market stability.
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