Longer trading hours might soon become a reality.
The plans for extending trading hours in the equity and futures and options segments have once again been revived.
As per an Economics times report, the National stock exchange (NSE) is spearheading this effort, and is in intial discussions with market participants.
This is not the first time these discussions have come about. It has long been contented that the current trading hours in India have resulted in volumes shifting to offshore markets. Increasing the hours would help bring back volumes onshore. Longer trading hours would also help Indian investors to react faster to global events.
Currently, equity and derivatives platforms are open between 9.15 am and 3.30 pm. However, SEBI has already drawn up a framework that allows bourses to keep F&O trading open until 11.55 pm and shares until 5 pm. It is now up to the exchanges to implement this, as no changes in rules are required from the market regulator's end.
SEBI, NSE, BSE did not reply to the queries by Economic Times.