NSE suggests expiry day holidays led to slip in volumes in April

A spokesperson of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) said on Wednesday that market holidays falling on Tuesday impacted trading volumes in the Futures and Options (F&O) segment in April. The spokesperson was responding to reports that in April, the BSE had a higher turnover than the NSE, which has typically held a higher market share in the F&O segment.

NSE's weekly and monthly contracts expire on Tuesday, and during the April session, two holidays were on an expiry day: Shri Mahavir Jayanti on 31 March and Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti on 14 April.

A representative of the exchange said: "In contrast, rival contracts expiring on Thursdays were unaffected, creating a temporary imbalance in reported activity. The broader trend signals recovery and strengthening market position."

Further, they added that notional calculations artificially inflate competitor share due to higher index price levels, producing distortions of up to 19 percentage points. "Premium turnover, by contrast, aligns with global best practices and is used by regulators such as SEBI and institutional investors," said the National Stock Exchange spokesperson.

In April, BSE overtook NSE across key equity derivatives metrics. BSE's notional average daily turnover rose 20% month-on-month to Rs 269 lakh crore, while NSE's fell 26% to Rs 217 lakh crore.

Total contracts traded followed the same pattern, with BSE up 26% to 351 crore, NSE down 22% to 289 crore. Therefore, the BSE's share of notional turnover rose to 55 percent, while NSE's share was 45 percent.

However, the NSE is arguing that this was a temporary blip. Instead, the exchange said that is has demonstrated a clear upward trajectory in the first quarter of 2026. Data from the NSE showed that its index options market share rose steadily from 66.7% in January to 72.1% in March, which is an increase of 540 basis points which underscores the strong underlying growth momentum.