Short Fall Penalty on Margin Shortage / Non-Collection Of Margins: Equity Derivatives and Currency Derivatives
Margin Shortfall Penalty is levied in Equity Derivatives and Currency Derivatives segments if sufficient margins are not maintained in client trading account. This Penalty is applicable for positions taken in Futures and Options Segment and Kept open over night. For Intra day positions shortfall margin penalty is not levied.
This margin shortfall penalty mechanism is applicable to the stock and currency exchanges under SEBI (NSE, BSE, MCX-SX and USE). In brief, the answer to what is margin shortfall penalty, it is a penalty levied on over night positions held in trading account without sufficient margin as prescribed by exchange. Also check, Daily updated Derivatives Margins for all NSE Derivatives Stocks .
How Margin Shortfall Penalty is Calculated?
If Short-collection/non-collection of margins per client per segment per day is (< Rs 1 lakh) And (< 10% of applicable margin) then a penalty of 0.5% is levied on such shortfall or non collection per EACH DAY.
If Short-collection/non-collection of margins per client per segment per day is (≥ Rs 1 lakh) Or (≥ 10% of applicable margin) then the margin short fall penalty is 1.0% per EACH DAY of such shortage.
Important point to note is for levying 0.5% penalty, shortfall should be less than one lakh AND it should be less than 10% of applicable margin. If either shortfall of derivatives margin is more than 10% OR more than 1 Lakh then the penalty for margin shortfall will be 1%. To explain further, unless the shortage in margin is less than 1 Lakh Rupees and Less than 10% of required margin, 1% penalty is levied. Such penalties are to be collected by exchanges with in 5 days from brokers (Usually brokers debit it on the same day). All the amount collected as such penalty will be deposited to Investor Protection Fund by all exchanges.
There is more dent to the pockets of traders if such shortfall / non collection continues for more than 3 consecutive days then the penalty for such shortfall will be 5% PER EACH DAY beyond third day of shortfall. Even if it is not for 3 consecutive days, it should not be more than 5 days in any month. If more than 5 shortfall days occurs in a month, even they are non consequent days, a penalty of 5% is levied.
Most traders do not notice these charges in their ledger accounts. To illustrate margin shortfall penalty with example, consider this.
If a trader takes overnight position in a Future contract X for which margin is 1,00,000. Available credit in the trading account in the segment is 50,000 (Credit in other segment is not counted). For a shortfall of 50,000 a penalty of 1% is levied. Although shortfall is less than 1 Lakh, it is more than 10% shortage of required margin (0.5% is applicable only if shortfall amount is less than 1 Lakh and lessthan 10% of applicable margin). So per each shortage day trader’s account will be debited 500 (50000*1%). If shortage continues for 3 consecutive days then from 4th day the penalty will be 2500 per each day (50000*5%).
If trader closes a position after 4 days and shortfall occurs again in the same month then from 6th short fall day (The simple way is to count number of shortfall days in the month) trader needs to pay a margin shortfall penalty of 2500 per each day (Assuming the shortfall continues to be 50000).
Exemption of Margin Shortfall Penalty
Only exemption from margin short fall penalty is, if short collection of margin from clients is caused due to movement of 3% or more in the index (close to close value of Nifty/Sensex for all equity derivatives) and in the underlying currency pair (close to close settlement price of currency futures, in case of all currency derivatives) on a given day, (day T), then, the penalty for short collection shall be imposed only if the shortfall continues to T+2 day.
non-reporting shall amount to 100% short collection and the
penalty as applicable shall be charged on these instances in respect of short
collection.
Source: SEBI Circular for margin short fall penaly (CIR/DNPD/7/2011 Dated August 10, 2011).