(Reuters) -Indian brokerage Angel One on Wednesday posted its third-straight quarterly profit decline, as last year’s curbs on equity derivatives trading continued to limit participation of retail investors.
The company, which competes with startups such as Zerodha, Groww and Upstox, said its consolidated profit slumped 50% to 2.12 billion rupees ($24.08 million) for the three months ended September 30.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India in November last year raised the minimum contract value and limited weekly index options to one per exchange, making it more costly to trade in the asset class.
The move, aimed at curbing speculative retail trading in a segment where 90% of traders incur losses, hit trading volumes and revenue for brokers that rely heavily on derivatives turnover.
In October, Angel One said its gross client acquisition was down 41.9% and its total orders fell 26.3% in the second quarter.
SEBI said in August it is also considering extending equity derivatives contract tenures and limiting who can trade.
Since the curbs, Angel One has stepped up efforts to diversify into margin funding, wealth management, insurance, loan distribution and asset management.
Analysts had said the strategy could materially increase the company’s non-broking revenue share over the next five to seven years, helping to reduce reliance on volatile derivatives income.
Its overall revenue during the quarter declined 20.7% to 12.02 billion rupees, Angel One said in an exchange filing.
Shares closed 1.7% higher ahead of results on Wednesday.
($1 = 88.0400 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Sahal Muhammed)
