NSE said in a circular on Tuesday, “Subsequent to direction received from SEBI, the timeline for aforesaid compliance has been extended to July 01, 2025”

The stock exchanges, directed by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), have deferred the implementation of the common contract note to July 1 from the earlier deadline of April 30.

“Subsequent to direction received from SEBI, the timeline for aforesaid compliance has been extended to July 01, 2025,” NSE said in a circular on late Tuesday.

The rollout has been delayed multiple times since the announcement in May 2024, despite many market participants having shown system readiness. Both the clearing corporations conducted demos tests between April 7 to 23, and completed 10 rounds of market-wide User Acceptance Tests (UAT).

Initial delays were due to resistance from a few brokers, custodians and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) regarding system changes. Market participants had expressed concerns around potential tax implications, rounding-off errors, and operational difficulties on the part of FPIs and custodians. Many had pushed for the feature to remain optional, rather than mandatory.

A contract note is a legal document that records the summary of trades executed by an investor on a trading day — including transaction details, time, trade price, charges, and taxes.

Currently, if an investor splits trades between the two exchanges, NSE and BSE, they receive separate contract notes from each, showing its own Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP) for the same order. A unified contract note will consolidate the VWAPs to provide best-price execution for investors, level playing field between exchanges, and align with global practices.   

Published on April 30, 2025