Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey today said that greater public awareness about the risks involved in derivatives trading is needed, as many retail investors continue to suffer losses even after three to four years of trading in the futures and options (F&O) segment. Highlighting the need for investors to understand whether they are prepared to participate in the derivatives market, Mr. Pandey said continued losses among retail traders remain a matter of concern.

 

Addressing the NaBFID Annual Infrastructure Conclave 2026, Mr. Pandey said the securities market can play an important role in meeting India’s growing infrastructure financing requirements by providing capital at different stages of an asset’s lifecycle.

 

He said infrastructure requires capital that is large in scale, long-term and patient in nature. The securities market, he added, can complement government expenditure and bank financing by bringing together household savings, institutional capital, foreign capital and other long-term pools of funds.

 

Mr. Pandey said capital markets have facilitated capital raising worth more than one hundred lakh crore rupees through equity and debt issuances over the past decade. He noted that in the first five months of the current financial year, capital raising has reached around seven lakh crore rupees, while a record 80 IPOs have raised around 60 thousand crore rupees.