Sebi may partly reverse derivative settlement rules after pushback

India's securities regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), appears poised to modify its rules governing derivatives settlement prices, following concerns raised by market participants. According to sources familiar with the matter, SEBI plans to revert to using the volume-weighted average price of the last 30 minutes of trading to determine derivatives settlement prices, rather than relying on closing auctions.

This change comes in response to feedback from market participants, who pointed out that the new closing auction system was leading to sharp swings in derivatives prices on expiry days. SEBI introduced the closing auction system in August, which has been adopted by global markets including the US and Hong Kong. While the regulator has decided to abandon the use of closing auctions for derivatives pricing, it plans to continue using them to determine the end-of-day price for underlying stocks in the less liquid cash market. SEBI is expected to implement the changes by the end of this month.