India’s oldest stock exchange, BSE, reported a 61 per cent jump in consolidated net profit for the March quarter at ₹795.47 crore, aided by a sharp rise in derivatives revenue and higher trading activity, capping what the exchange described as the strongest financial performance in its 150-year history.
Consolidated revenue for the January-March quarter rose to ₹1,630 crore from ₹926.38 crore a year earlier. Full-year net profit surged 88 per cent to ₹2,487 crore in FY26 against ₹1,322 crore in FY25, while revenue for the fiscal climbed 59 per cent to ₹5,148 crore.
Dividend boost
The board recommended a final dividend of ₹10 per share for FY26. BSE shares hit a 52-week high of ₹3,985 during Thursday’s trade ahead of the results announcement.
The strong performance was led by the equity derivatives segment, where annual revenue more than doubled to ₹3,134 crore. Average daily premium turnover rose 118 per cent to ₹19,522 crore in FY26 from ₹8,977 crore in the previous year.
On the post-results analyst call, BSE Managing Director and CEO Sundararaman Ramamurthy said the exchange remained dissatisfied with its 7-8 per cent cash market share, probably due to delays in implementation of smart order routing (SOR), which is a mechanism that enables brokers to route orders across exchanges for best price execution.
“This is far away from what we wanted it to be. We wanted it to be at least double digit,” Ramamurthy said. “We thought institutional and retail participants will become exchange agnostic and trade where the prices are suitable for them… But unfortunately, applications of SOR… are still pending for more than six months at the other exchange,” he said.
“This is probably impeding the growth in the market share,” he added.
Ramamurthy said the exchange’s strategy in derivatives was focused on “deepening and broadening” participation rather than merely chasing volumes. The number of brokers trading options on BSE increased to 587 from 446 a year ago.
FPI Surge
Meanwhile, the exchange’s foreign portfolio investor count rose sharply from 100 to 520. “We have set for ourselves a target of around 800 FPIs,” he said, adding that more long-term funds are beginning to participate in monthly options contracts as liquidity improves.
The exchange also indicated plans to enter commodity derivatives. “We do not want a ‘me too’ syndrome where we also start something because others are starting it,” Ramamurthy said. “We want to create a value proposition for the market by thinking about some unique selling proposition.”
The annual general meeting is scheduled for August 19. BSE StAR MF posted revenues of ₹285 crore, up 24 per cent, with transaction volumes growing 27 per cent to 84 crore. Total investor accounts on BSE crossed 25 crore, with 3.53 crore new accounts added during the year.
Published on May 7, 2026