BTTV Exclusive | NSE CEO Ashish Chauhan says new products to drive diversification, calls EGRs transformational
In an exclusive interaction with Business Today, NSE CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan discusses weekly options, SEBI regulations and NSE’s product expansion, including EGR, electricity futures and coal spot exchange.
- Sep 24, 2026,
- Updated Sep 24, 2026 4:51 PM IST
Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director and CEO at National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) on Thursday said his exchange is focused on reducing its dependence on weekly options by expanding into new products and market segments. NSE is prepared to comply with regulatory changes by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Chauhan said.
In an exclusive interview to Business Today's Group Editor Siddharth Zarabi, Chauhan said SEBI’s responsibility is to protect investors and the exchange has no objection to meet regulatory decisions taken in that interest.
“SEBI will do what they will need to do in the interest of protecting investors. That’s their job,” Chauhan said, adding that NSE’s focus is to ensure it does not remain dependent on a few products.
Chauhan said NSE had expected its volumes and revenues to decline 50-60 per cent after SEBI tightened regulations around derivatives, including reducing the number of weekly expiries from five to one. However, the impact was significantly lower, with NSE’s volumes and revenues falling by around 3 per cent in 2025-26, he said.
According to Chauhan, weekly options currently account for around 42 per cent of NSE’s total revenue, down from much higher levels three years ago. The remaining 58 per cent comes from equities, equity futures and monthly stock and index options, where the regulatory concerns around weekly expiries do not apply.
He said newer revenue streams such as index revenues, market data and terminal services are growing faster, although they remain smaller in the overall business.
Chauhan also outlined NSE’s pipeline of new products aimed at broadening its business. Electricity futures, launched last year, currently command around 70-75 per cent market share, he said.
The exchange is also working with industry leaders to launch a coal spot exchange, with derivatives planned at a later stage. Bond index futures are another product in the pipeline following their announcement by the Finance Minister in the previous Budget.
Chauhan said NSE is also focusing on Electronic Gold Receipts (EGR), which are already live on the exchange and currently have almost the entire market share. He described EGR as a potentially 'transformational product' which could pave the way for several other products in the future.
The NSE chief said the exchange could also benefit if equity markets, which have remained largely sideways over the past two-three years, begin performing better. “Then the current segments we operate in themselves will start doing well,” he said.
Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director and CEO at National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) on Thursday said his exchange is focused on reducing its dependence on weekly options by expanding into new products and market segments. NSE is prepared to comply with regulatory changes by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Chauhan said.
In an exclusive interview to Business Today's Group Editor Siddharth Zarabi, Chauhan said SEBI’s responsibility is to protect investors and the exchange has no objection to meet regulatory decisions taken in that interest.
“SEBI will do what they will need to do in the interest of protecting investors. That’s their job,” Chauhan said, adding that NSE’s focus is to ensure it does not remain dependent on a few products.
Chauhan said NSE had expected its volumes and revenues to decline 50-60 per cent after SEBI tightened regulations around derivatives, including reducing the number of weekly expiries from five to one. However, the impact was significantly lower, with NSE’s volumes and revenues falling by around 3 per cent in 2025-26, he said.
According to Chauhan, weekly options currently account for around 42 per cent of NSE’s total revenue, down from much higher levels three years ago. The remaining 58 per cent comes from equities, equity futures and monthly stock and index options, where the regulatory concerns around weekly expiries do not apply.
He said newer revenue streams such as index revenues, market data and terminal services are growing faster, although they remain smaller in the overall business.
Chauhan also outlined NSE’s pipeline of new products aimed at broadening its business. Electricity futures, launched last year, currently command around 70-75 per cent market share, he said.
The exchange is also working with industry leaders to launch a coal spot exchange, with derivatives planned at a later stage. Bond index futures are another product in the pipeline following their announcement by the Finance Minister in the previous Budget.
Chauhan said NSE is also focusing on Electronic Gold Receipts (EGR), which are already live on the exchange and currently have almost the entire market share. He described EGR as a potentially 'transformational product' which could pave the way for several other products in the future.
The NSE chief said the exchange could also benefit if equity markets, which have remained largely sideways over the past two-three years, begin performing better. “Then the current segments we operate in themselves will start doing well,” he said.