Description

NSE publishes the revised list of equity shares approved as non-cash component of liquid assets for the F&O segment, including overall and member-wise permitted quantities with applicable haircuts.

Summary

NSE has issued a revised list of equity shares eligible as the non-cash component of liquid assets for the Futures & Options (F&O) segment. The circular specifies 39 large-cap securities (Annexure 1), their ISINs, overall permitted quantities across all segments, and member-wise permitted quantities. The applicable haircut for all listed securities is the Value at Risk (VAR) based haircut.

Key Points

  • A total of 39 equity shares are approved as non-cash liquid assets for the F&O segment.
  • Applicable haircut for all listed securities is VAR (Value at Risk) based.
  • Value-based prudential norm: exclusion of a pledged security must not result in a margin shortfall of more than 25% at the Clearing Member level.
  • Member-wise permitted quantity for the F&O segment is listed as “N.A” for all securities, meaning no individual member-level cap is specified.
  • The list includes all major Nifty 50 constituents and blue-chip stocks.

Regulatory Changes

This circular represents a revised/updated version of the approved securities list. The inclusion of ETERNAL LIMITED (INE758T01015) with a large permitted quantity of 1,822,429,145 units is notable and may reflect a recent addition or renaming. All other securities are well-established large-cap stocks previously on the approved list.

Compliance Requirements

  • Clearing Members must ensure that pledged securities used as non-cash collateral are drawn from this approved list.
  • Clearing Members must monitor that the exclusion of any single pledged security does not cause a margin shortfall exceeding 25% at the Clearing Member level.
  • Members should update their internal collateral management systems to reflect the revised permitted quantities per this circular.

Important Dates

  • Effective Date: 2026-02-20 (date of circular issuance). Members should treat this as the operative list from the date of publication.

Impact Assessment

This is a routine but operationally important update for clearing members and institutional participants in the F&O segment. The 39 approved securities represent India’s most liquid large-cap stocks, ensuring systemic robustness in margin collateral. Clearing members holding or accepting pledges of any of the listed securities as non-cash margin must verify their internal permitted quantity limits align with this revised circular. The 25% prudential norm on margin shortfall from a single excluded security is a risk-control measure that directly affects collateral portfolio construction for large clearing members.

Impact Justification

Routine periodic update of the approved securities list for collateral purposes in the F&O segment; affects clearing members and traders using these securities as margin collateral, but represents standard regulatory maintenance rather than a new policy change.