NSE to roll out nanosecond trading from April 11, 2026

Indian capital markets will move to nanosecond-level response times in equities and equity derivatives from April 11, 2026, making domestic markets nearly 1,000 times faster than some of the world’s fastest trading platforms, Ashish Chauhan, Managing Director and CEO of the National Stock Exchange of India, said.

Speaking at the Association of National Exchange Members of India’s StockTech event, Chauhan said the NSE’s currency derivatives segment is already operating at nanosecond speeds and equities will soon follow. “In less than two months, our response time in equities and equity derivatives will move to nanoseconds. One second equals 100 crore nanoseconds,” he said.

In trading terms, this refers to the time taken by the exchange’s systems to receive, process and confirm an order. Lower response times mean orders are matched faster, prices are discovered more efficiently and risks are managed in near real time, which is critical as algorithmic and high-frequency trading volumes rise.

The exchange is also enhancing its order-handling capacity to 10 crore transactions per second, a sharp jump from the current level of around 50–60 lakh orders per second. The upgrade is aimed at ensuring the market can comfortably handle the next phase of growth in electronic trading. “Our markets need to be ready for the next decade of growth, and this infrastructure is the foundation,” Chauhan said.

To support higher volumes, NSE is expanding its co-location infrastructure, with capacity being ramped up two to three times. Co-location, which allows trading firms to place servers close to exchange systems to reduce latency, will continue to be offered on demand. The exchange has also enabled faster, real-time movement of margins across segments, improving capital efficiency and risk management.

Chauhan said the technology overhaul is being aligned with compliance requirements under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, which he said would impact every part of the market ecosystem. Cybersecurity and strong system integration, he added, will be critical as trading systems become faster and more complex.

The exchange is also developing agentic artificial intelligence in collaboration with a leading global university, and urged technology providers to explore AI to reduce costs and improve efficiency. “Stock markets are real-time finance. India pioneered technology-led trading 32 years ago and we must continue to stay ahead,” he said.

Paul Ghosh, Director of Market Operations at NSE, said the shift to nanosecond response times as a fundamental change in processing speed that would benefit all market participants by improving reliability and scalability.

NSE also announced product initiatives to deepen markets. The exchange is set to launch contract-for-difference products for electricity futures, aimed at expanding energy derivatives as power markets gain importance. Regulators have also approved the listing of 10-gram gold futures contracts, a move expected to attract retail investors who find the existing 1-kg gold futures contracts too large or expensive to trade.

Published on February 21, 2026