BSE's Ramamurthy Not Worried About Changes to Weekly Options

Weekly options have helped BSE up the ante significantly against the NSE in the derivatives space

- Ram Sahgal & Satish John

BSE Ltd's chief executive isn't unduly perturbed by any proposed change to the contract expiry schedule for index options, one of its most popular products that has allowed it to snatch market share from its much larger rival, the National Stock Exchange, even as it lags in the cash segment by a wide margin. He is also unfazed by challenges from potential new entrants.

Regulations in India are "co-created" with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) following a due process of constituting an expert working group (EWG), which lays down the "tenets" of change before seeking public views on them, according to Sundararaman Ramamurthy, managing director and chief executive officer of BSE since January 2023.

"Those public views are discussed by the expert working group and then taken to the Secondary Market Advisory Committee (SMAC). Finally, a view of the SMAC is taken and taken to the Sebi board, before it becomes law," said Ramamurthy. "The issue of extension of the tenor of contract (index options) has not come up before the expert committee so far."

Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey told the media on the sidelines of an event last month that the regulator was exploring ways to extend the tenure and maturity period of equity options contracts. That has sparked speculation that weekly options expiry could go, impacting BSE's growth.