Indian capital markets will transfer to nanosecond-level response instances in equities and fairness derivatives from April 11, 2026, making home markets almost 1,000 instances quicker than a number of the world’s quickest buying and selling platforms, Ashish Chauhan, Managing Director and CEO of the National Stock Exchange of India, mentioned.
Speaking on the Association of National Exchange Members of India’s StockTech occasion, Chauhan mentioned the NSE’s foreign money derivatives section is already working at nanosecond speeds and equities will quickly observe. “In less than two months, our response time in equities and equity derivatives will move to nanoseconds. One second equals 100 crore nanoseconds,” he mentioned.
In buying and selling phrases, this refers back to the time taken by the change’s techniques to obtain, course of and ensure an order. Lower response instances imply orders are matched quicker, costs are found extra effectively and dangers are managed in close to actual time, which is essential as algorithmic and high-frequency buying and selling volumes rise.
The change can also be enhancing its order-handling capability to 10 crore transactions per second, a pointy leap from the present stage of round 50–60 lakh orders per second. The improve is geared toward making certain the market can comfortably deal with the following part of development in digital buying and selling. “Our markets need to be ready for the next decade of growth, and this infrastructure is the foundation,” Chauhan mentioned.
To assist larger volumes, NSE is increasing its co-location infrastructure, with capability being ramped up two to 3 instances. Co-location, which permits buying and selling companies to put servers near change techniques to cut back latency, will proceed to be supplied on demand. The change has additionally enabled quicker, real-time motion of margins throughout segments, enhancing capital effectivity and threat administration.
Chauhan mentioned the expertise overhaul is being aligned with compliance necessities underneath the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, which he mentioned would impression each a part of the market ecosystem. Cybersecurity and robust system integration, he added, will probably be essential as buying and selling techniques develop into quicker and extra complicated.
The change can also be creating agentic synthetic intelligence in collaboration with a number one international college, and urged expertise suppliers to discover AI to cut back prices and enhance effectivity. “Stock markets are real-time finance. India pioneered technology-led trading 32 years ago and we must continue to stay ahead,” he mentioned.
Paul Ghosh, Director of Market Operations at NSE, mentioned the shift to nanosecond response instances as a elementary change in processing velocity that will profit all market members by enhancing reliability and scalability.
NSE additionally introduced product initiatives to deepen markets. The change is about to launch contract-for-difference merchandise for electrical energy futures, geared toward increasing vitality derivatives as energy markets acquire significance. Regulators have additionally accredited the itemizing of 10-gram gold futures contracts, a transfer anticipated to draw retail traders who discover the present 1-kg gold futures contracts too massive or costly to commerce.
Published on February 21, 2026
