SEBI Proposes Harmonised Price Bands, Pre-Open Auction Base Prices For Stocks Listed On Multiple Exchanges

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Thursday issued a consultation paper proposing a common mechanism for determining the base price in the pre-open call auction session. It also proposed a uniform approach for fixing price bands for stocks listed on multiple stock exchanges.

SEBI noted that the previous day's closing price is used to determine the base price for the pre-open session and the applicable price bands. However, each exchange currently calculates these price bands independently based on its own closing price.

The regulator observed that in some illiquid scrips, non-trading on one exchange and persistent buying pressure on another have led to significant divergence in closing prices across exchanges. It said the practice of applying price bands based on the previous day's closing price could also result in continued non-trading on certain exchanges.

Based on the recommendations of the Secondary Market Advisory Committee, SEBI has proposed that if a scrip is traded on only one exchange, the closing price on that exchange should be used by all other exchanges. This price would be used to determine the next day's price bands and the base price for the pre-open call auction session.

SEBI has also proposed that where a scrip is traded on two or more exchanges but not traded on one or more others, the exchanges where no trading occurred should use the closing price of the exchange that recorded the highest trading volume. This price would be used to determine the next day's price bands and the base price for the pre-open call auction session.

Further, where a scrip was traded on all exchanges, or was not traded on any exchange, each exchange would continue to use its own latest closing price. This price would be used to determine the next day's price bands and the base price for the pre-open call auction session.

Public comments on the proposals have been invited until July 2, 2026.