New Delhi: Lakhs of investors have invested in India’s derivatives market, but nine out of 10 traders in the equity and stock futures and options (F&O) segments faced losses, according to a SEBI report. 84 per cent of the losers in this segment were male, while 75 per cent were female. As per the report, during FY2022, these people lost Rs 1.1 lakh on an average in trading F&O. 10 people in India invested money in Stock Futures and Options (F&O) but suffered losses. The launch of new stocks and commodities every week was the main reason for the losses of individual investors. According to the report, only 1.1 investors made an average profit of Rs 1.5 lakh.
According to the SEBI report, before 2017 the market regulator found that most retail investors believed that F&O can be safely invested in compared to fixed deposits. According to a SEBI report, 98 per cent of people investing in this segment of the market traded in options, while 11 per cent invested in futures. In FY19, 89 per cent investors invested in options, while 43 per cent traded in futures. According to SEBI research, the losses happened at a time when the number of people investing in F&O increased by 6.5 times in 3 years. In FY19, 7.1 lakh people invested in this segment, whereas in FY2022 the number of clients of top ten brokers investing in this segment reached 45.2 lakhs. In these three years, the outbreak of Corona epidemic was at its peak in FY 21 and FY 22. The number of demat accounts opened during this period doubled to nearly 90 million.
According to the report, in the equity F&O segment, the share of youth in the age group of 20 to 30 years in index and stop options is expected to exceed 30 per cent in FY2022, compared to only 11 per cent in FY2019. They also found that both the average loss and the average gain of female investors were greater than those of male investors. However, women made up only two per cent of the investment in this segment.
