What Is a Lot in F&O? Current Nifty, Bank Nifty and Sensex Lot Sizes Explained

What a Lot Actually Means in F&O

In Futures and Options trading on Indian exchanges, a lot is the standard, indivisible bundle of the underlying that one contract represents. When you buy one Nifty futures contract, you are not buying one unit of the Nifty index. You are buying 65 units in a single click, because the Nifty lot size is 65. You can trade 1 lot, 2 lots or 10 lots, but never 1.5 lots or 30 units on their own. The lot is the smallest brick you are allowed to use.

This matters because the lot size silently multiplies everything. Your true market exposure is lot size times price, not the small premium or margin you hand over. A Nifty option premium of Rs 120 looks tiny, but with a lot size of 65 you are exposed to Rs 9,000 of premium value, and the contract itself controls index value worth several lakh rupees. Beginners who ignore the lot multiplier routinely take positions five to ten times larger than they intended.

Lot sizes are set by the exchange and reviewed by SEBI. They are not random. The exchange targets a minimum contract value, currently around Rs 15 lakh, so that F&O stays a serious instrument and not a casino chip. When an index or stock price rises sharply over time, the exchange cuts the lot size so the contract value does not balloon. When prices fall, it can raise the lot size.

The Correct 2026 Lot Sizes (After the November 2024 Revision)

This is the part most stale articles get wrong. The old, widely copied figure of 50 for Nifty is outdated. In its circular effective from the November 2024 expiry, NSE revised index F&O lot sizes upward to keep contract values inside the new Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh band that SEBI mandated. If you read anywhere that Nifty is 50 or Bank Nifty is 25, that source has not been updated and you should not rely on it for position sizing.

Here are the current index lot sizes that apply in 2026. Always treat these as your starting reference and reconfirm on the exchange website on the day you trade, because individual stock lot sizes in particular are revised every few months.

Why SEBI and the Exchange Keep Changing Lot Sizes

Lot sizes are a risk control lever, not a fixed law of nature. The exchange wants the notional value of one contract to sit inside a sensible range. If it is too small, the market fills with tiny, speculative trades and overheats. If it is too large, ordinary traders are priced out and liquidity dries up. SEBI raised the minimum contract value floor to roughly Rs 15 lakh in late 2024 as part of a wider tightening of index derivatives, which is exactly why Nifty moved from 50 to 75.

For individual stock futures and options, the exchange recalculates lot sizes periodically, usually around the time of contract introduction and at half-yearly reviews. A stock that has run up a lot will see its lot size cut, and a stock that has fallen may see its lot size raised. This is why a stock you traded six months ago may have a different lot size today, and why you should never hard-code a stock lot size from memory.

• Goal: keep each contract near the Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh notional band.
• Index lots are revised when the index moves far outside the band over time.
• Single-stock lots are reviewed roughly every six months and on price corporate actions.
• A bonus, split or major corporate action can also force a lot size adjustment.
• You are responsible for trading the lot size that is live on expiry day, not last year's number.

Worked Example: One Lot of Nifty Futures

All numbers below are illustrative and rounded for teaching. They do not predict any outcome and are not a promise of returns. Suppose Nifty is trading at 24,000 and you buy 1 lot of Nifty futures. The lot size is 65, so your contract value is 75 x 24,000 = Rs 18,00,000. You do not pay Rs 18 lakh. You post a SPAN plus exposure margin, which for index futures is often around 12 to 15 percent of contract value, so roughly Rs 2,16,000 to Rs 2,70,000 is blocked.

Now say Nifty rises to 24,200, a move of 200 points. Your gross profit is 200 points x 65 = Rs 13,000 before costs. If instead Nifty falls to 23,800, you lose 200 x 65 = Rs 13,000. Notice how a 0.83 percent move in the index produced a meaningful rupee swing against a margin of about Rs 2.4 lakh. That is leverage working through the lot multiplier.

Costs then reduce the gross figure. On a winning futures trade like this, the major statutory cost is STT on the sell side at 0.02 percent of the sell turnover for futures, which on a roughly Rs 18.15 lakh sell value is about Rs 363. Add discount broker charges of around Rs 20 per side, GST at 18 percent on brokerage and transaction charges, plus tiny exchange and stamp charges. Total costs on this single round trip typically land in the Rs 450 to Rs 600 range, so your net would be roughly Rs 14,400 to Rs 14,550. The exact figure depends on your broker.

Worked Example: One Lot of a Nifty Option

Options change the cash you put up but not the lot multiplier. Illustrative numbers again. Suppose Nifty is at 24,000 and you buy 1 lot of the 24,100 call for a premium of Rs 120. Because the lot size is 65, your total cost to enter is 120 x 65 = Rs 7,800 plus charges. That Rs 7,800 is the most you can lose as a buyer, which is the appeal of buying options.

If the premium rises to Rs 180 and you sell, your gross gain is (180 minus 120) x 65 = Rs 3,900. If the premium decays to Rs 60, your gross loss is (120 minus 60) x 65 = Rs 3,900. For option buyers, STT is charged at 0.15 percent on the sell-side premium turnover, which on a Rs 11,700 sell value is about Rs 18. If the option is exercised at expiry in the money, STT on exercise is charged on the intrinsic settlement value, which is a far larger base, so many traders square off before expiry rather than letting an in-the-money option be exercised.

For an option seller, the lot still multiplies, but the margin is much larger because losses can be open-ended, and STT of 0.1 percent applies on the sell side at the moment you write the option. A single sold Nifty call lot can require Rs 1 lakh or more in margin even though the premium received is only a few thousand rupees. The lot of 65 is what turns a modest per-unit premium into real money on either side.

• Option buyer maximum loss = premium x lot size, paid up front.
• Option seller margin is large and the position can lose far more than the premium received.
• STT for options is 0.15 percent on the sell-side premium value as of the current rates.
• Letting an in-the-money option be exercised triggers STT on the much larger settlement value, so squaring off early is usually cheaper.
• Every leg of a multi-leg strategy carries its own lot, so a 4-leg iron condor on Nifty controls 4 x 65 units of exposure.

How Lot Size Drives Margin and Real Exposure

Margin is the cash blocked to hold a position. It is calculated on the full contract value, which is lot size times price, not on the premium. This is why two traders looking at the same Rs 120 option screen can be in completely different risk situations. The buyer pays Rs 9,000. The seller of that same strike may have Rs 1 lakh or more blocked. The lot size of 65 is identical for both, but the exposure profiles are worlds apart.

Because contract values are large, brokers offer leverage through SPAN and exposure margin. Leverage cuts both ways. A 1 percent move in Bank Nifty, with a lot size of 30 at a level of 52,000, is 520 points, which equals 520 x 30 = Rs 15,600 of profit or loss per lot. If you held that single lot against a Rs 2 lakh margin, a routine intraday swing can move your account by 7 to 8 percent. Always translate any planned position into rupees of risk per point before you click buy.

Weekly and Monthly Expiry: Same Lot, Different Time

Lot size does not change between weekly and monthly contracts of the same underlying. A Nifty weekly option and a Nifty monthly option both carry a lot of 65. What changes is the time available and the way premium decays. Weekly options lose time value much faster as expiry approaches, so the same Rs 120 premium can evaporate within days. SEBI has limited the number of weekly expiries per exchange, so each exchange now offers weekly contracts on a single benchmark index, with the others trading on monthly cycles.

Index F&O in India is cash settled. There is no delivery of shares. At expiry, the difference between your entry and the settlement price, multiplied by the lot size, is credited or debited to your account. Stock F&O, by contrast, is settled by physical delivery, which means if you hold an in-the-money stock option or a stock future to expiry, you can be obliged to take or give delivery of the full lot of shares. A trader who forgets the lot size on a physically settled stock position can be handed an unexpected multi-lakh delivery obligation.

How F&O Profit Is Taxed in India

This is where many traders get a nasty surprise. Profit or loss from F&O is treated as non-speculative business income, not as capital gains. That means it is added to your total income and taxed at your applicable slab rate. The friendly capital gains rates do not apply. For reference, equity delivery is taxed differently, with STCG at 20 percent and LTCG at 12.5 percent above Rs 1.25 lakh of gains, but those rates are for cash-market equity holdings, not for your F&O book.

Because F&O is business income, you can deduct genuine business expenses such as brokerage, STT in many cases, internet, and platform costs against your F&O profit. You report it under business income in your return, and if your turnover crosses the prescribed thresholds, a tax audit may apply. The practical takeaway is simple. Your F&O lot size determines turnover and profit, and that profit is taxed at your slab, so a trader in the 30 percent slab keeps materially less of a winning trade than the gross rupee figure suggests.

• F&O gains are non-speculative business income, taxed at your slab rate, not 20 percent STCG or 12.5 percent LTCG.
• STT on futures is 0.02 percent on the sell side; STT on options is 0.1 percent on the sell-side premium.
• Brokerage, GST at 18 percent on brokerage and charges, exchange fees and stamp duty all apply per trade.
• Business income treatment allows legitimate expense deductions but may require a tax audit above turnover thresholds.
• Keep a clean trade-by-trade record, since a journal of every lot makes turnover and tax computation far easier at year end.

Common Mistakes Traders Make With Lot Size

The most damaging mistake is using an outdated lot size. Anyone still sizing Nifty at 50 is unknowingly taking a position one-third smaller, or planning capital that is one-third short, depending on direction. The second mistake is confusing the F&O lot with the cash-market quantity. In the cash market you can buy a single share of Reliance or HDFC Bank. In F&O you must buy the entire lot, so there is no such thing as one share of a Nifty future.

A third mistake is judging risk by premium instead of by contract value. A Rs 9,000 option position feels small until the underlying gaps and the lot multiplier turns a few points into thousands of rupees. A fourth is forgetting physical settlement on stock F&O, which can convert a forgotten in-the-money lot into a large delivery obligation. Treat the lot size as the first number you check, not the last.

• Using stale lot sizes, especially Nifty 50 instead of the current 75.
• Confusing F&O lots with cash-market single-share quantities.
• Measuring risk by premium paid rather than by full contract value.
• Ignoring per-leg lots in multi-leg option strategies.
• Carrying in-the-money stock F&O into expiry and being assigned physical delivery.

A Simple Pre-Trade Checklist

Before you place any F&O order, run through a quick mental checklist built around the lot. This habit alone prevents the majority of beginner blow-ups, because almost every sizing error traces back to mishandling the lot multiplier or the margin it implies.

• Confirm today's live lot size on the NSE or BSE site, not from memory.
• Multiply lot size by price to get your true contract value and exposure.
• Check the margin blocked and confirm it leaves room for a stop loss and a second trade.
• Translate your stop loss into rupees: stop distance in points times lot size.
• Decide your exit before expiry, especially on physically settled stock F&O.
• Log the trade, lot count, entry, exit and costs in your journal for tax and review.

Sources and Further Reading

For authoritative, current contract specifications and rules, always verify on the official sources before you trade: NSE India for live lot sizes and circulars, SEBI for regulatory changes, and Zerodha Varsity for plain-language explanations. Lot sizes, STT rates and tax rules change, so confirm the live figures on the day you trade. Nothing here is investment advice, and all numeric examples are illustrative only.

Sources and Further Reading

For authoritative data and further reading on this topic, refer to NSE India, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and Zerodha Varsity. Always confirm current rules, rates and contract specifications on the official source before you trade.