Financial Markets and the Economy - Intersections

( Talk delivered by former SEBI WTM Ananth Narayan at the 13th SBI Conclave on 24th September 2026 ) The Mind of a Regulator: A Practitioner’s Perspective Chairman SBI, Managing Directors, SBI, and distinguished members of the financial services community: thank you to SBI for this opportunity.  Congratulations to the banker to every Indian for institutionalizing this conclave: it is truly an event that the financial ecosystem looks forward to. On the topic of “the mind of a regulator”, I have had the opportunity of looking at regulation from different angles: as a regulated market practitioner, an academic, an independent director, and as a regulator. Of course, where you stand on regulation depends on where you sit. In my talk today, I want to cover two broad areas. The first is about co-creating an ideal regulatory framework. The second is about regulatory intervention in financial markets. I. A good regulatory framework Let me begin with the design of the ideal regulatory frame...

(This article appeared on 15th September 2026 in Business Standard - link  https://www.business-standard.com/opinion/columns/getting-equity-derivatives-right-126091400950_1.html  ) Getting equity derivatives right Retail participation has moderated, but questions around suitability, market resilience and the dominance of short-term trading remain Derivatives and speculation aid price discovery, improve market depth and allow risk management. They are important for sustained capital formation. That said, since the Securities and Exchange Board of India released its first study of futures and options (F&O) trading in January 2023, three aspects of equity derivatives have warranted attention. First, nine out of 10 individual traders have consistently lost money in F&O, principally in index options. Second, cash-equivalent volumes in index options on expiry days were as much as 700-800 times underlying cash-market volumes. At expiry, prices determined by a relati...