National Stock Exchange (NSE) MD & CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan has announced that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has rejected the NSE’s proposal to extend trading hours.

What Happened: In February, media reports suggested that the proposal to lengthen the trading hours for index futures had received preliminary approval from the Association of National Exchange Members of India (ANMI). The Brokers Industry Standards Forum (ISF) was also preparing a formal recommendation to SEBI.

Previously, in September of last year, it was reported that SEBI was considering a proposal from the NSE to extend trading hours in the cash market. This proposal outlined a phased plan to extend trading times gradually.

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Initially, it aimed to extend the trading hours for index futures and options (F&O) from 6 PM to 9 PM. The second phase proposed to extend index F&O trading until 11:30 PM, and the final phase aimed to push the cash market trading hours to 5 PM.

However, Chauhan noted that stock brokers did not provide the feedback required by the regulator to proceed with extending the trading hours. Consequently, he confirmed that the plan to extend trading times is currently on hold.

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