@dtrade Y u need this information… it does not matter actully… as of now nifty lot size 75…
Thanks @nithin. Why didn’t I think about this solution, I will check it out 
by the way congratulations on the EY 2017 award. You are so involved and passionate even after achieving so much, but I guess your benchmarks are higher and I wish you all the best !!!
Hi, @dolphy_crasta its because I am generally very curious, and it can also help others in backtesting
Hi @nithin I did not go through each year but did a quick check and yes it was at 50 for a short period Below are the high-level findings.
2000-05 -200
2005-07 -100
2007 - 50
2008 - 25
2009 - 50 (maybe because market fell so much that NSE had to revert to 50)
2010-15 -25
2016-18 - 75 (why did they increase the lot saying they want to protect retail investors. Is this true or is there some other logic?)
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Yep SEBI put in a rule saying that minimum value of a contract should be around Rs 5lks for a derivatives contract. Hence the lot size of Nifty and all stock F&O contracts went up in 2016. And yes the reasoning was that SEBI didn’t want extremely small retail investors to take the risks of trading derivative contracts.
Btw thanks for putting this out. 
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I think the lot size of 25 is for Mini Nifty contract ,
In the guise of protecting retail investors, " communist mind set " people of SEBI increased contract size , If SEBI intention was really genuine , SEBI was suppose to close Derivatives for retail traders. but still retail traders/investors losing money in derivatives ,( lot of examples on Q &A itself ) funny thing is that , Now SEBI is also regulator for Commodity trading segment , there mini size lot with lowest margins are allowed 
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I checked bhavcopy for nifty futures and it did not mention that it was mini Nifty.
you are right lot size 25 was not for mini nifty , mini nifty lot size was 20 , later i found it , here is the link for the detail https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/markets/NSE-cuts-Nifty-Futures-lot-size-to-25/article20899590.ece
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@dtrade, I have same requirement now, but for Individual stocks (I need lot sizes of Individual stocks for past 5 years). As you have researched it for Nifty, can you plz suggest inputs on how can I get it for stocks ?
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@dtrade, I checked the bhavcopy, but it does not include lot size… how did you manage to find lot size of NIfty from the Bhavcopy?
I found a way to find the lot size - mathematical way…
Playing with GCD (also called HCF) of OI and closing price variation, could calculate it.
as you can see in the above image lot size changes on the record date…
Link here: Dropbox - LOTSIZE_FUTSTK_TCS_06-10-2017_TO_05-10-2018.xlsx - Simplify your life
I have not tested for other scrips…
Good luck!
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Nifty started trading in 1 June 2000 in derivatives
From To Lot
1st June 2000 31st March 2005 200
1st April 2005 22nd February 2007 100
23rd February 2007 30th October 2014 50
31st October 2014 29th October 2015 25
30th October 2015 Till Date (14th November 2018) 75
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A little late in the reply, but here is what I do to find the Lot information for every security in Futures & Options segment.
A daily file called Bhavcopy(PR) is available under Equities segment: https://www.nse-india.com/products/content/equities/equities/archieve_eq.htm
The URL of the daily Bhavcopy(PR) file (for 4th January 2010) is:
https://www.nse-india.com/archives/equities/bhavcopy/pr/PR040110.zip
Within this zip file you can find 2 separate files for options and futures: fo04012010.csv and op04012010.csv.
These files have these 2 columns: TRD_QTY and NO_OF_CONT. Lot size should simply be: TRD_QTY/NO_OF_CONT.
This file is available 4th January 2010 onwards.
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Can u please share bank nifty historical lot size ?
Bank Nifty F&O contracts started trading from June 13, 2005. The lot size changed as follows -
| From Date | To Date | Lot size | Reference Circular |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 13, 2005 | February 22, 2007 | 100 | NSE/F&O/120/2005 |
| February 23, 2007 | April 29, 2010 | 50 | NSE/F&O/010/2007 |
| April 30, 2010 | August 27, 2015 | 25 | NSE/F&O/030/2010 |
| August 28, 2015 | April 28, 2016 | 30 | NSE/F&O/071/2015 |
| April 29, 2016 | October 25, 2018 | 40 | NSE/F&O/034/2016 |
| October 26, 2018 | May 03, 2020 | 20 | NSE/F&O/091/2018 |
| May 04, 2020 | Present day (aka May 15, 2021) | 25 | NSE/F&O/035/2020 |
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Thank u so much
If u don’t mind please share nifty historical lot size
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How can you say it doesn’t matter? Don’t you do research or backtesting on index??
This data has been shared in one of the posts above. Adding the circulars and sharing it again below -
Nifty Futures contracts started trading on June 12, 2000 and Nifty Options contracts started trading on June 4, 2001 (as per NSE website). The lot size changed as follows -
| From Date | To Date | Lot size | Reference Circular |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 12, 2000 / June 4, 2001 | March 31, 2005 | 200 | NSE/F&O/001/2000 / NSE/F&O/0010/2001 |
| April 1, 2005 | February 22, 2007 | 100 | NSE/F&O/096/2005 |
| February 23, 2007 | October 30, 2014 | 50 | NSE/F&O/010/2007 |
| October 31, 2014 | August 27, 2015 | 25 | NSE/F&O/069/2014 |
| August 28, 2015 | April 29, 2021 | 75 | NSE/F&O/071/2015 |
| April 30, 2021 | Present day (aka May 16, 2021) | 50 | NSE/F&O/028/2021 |
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I’ve been looking for a solution for this to backtest the covered call strategy, and I think I’ve found a workaround. I might be wrong, so please correct me if I am.
Here’s what I did:
Go to the NSE website: https://www1.nseindia.com/products/content/derivatives/equities/historical_fo.htm
Choose, Stock Options, Reliance, choose the year as 2012, select the January expiry, select option type as CE, leave the strike price blank, and keep the start date and end date constant - 2nd Jan, 2012.
You get the historical data. Now look at the OI and Change in OI columns and browse through it.
Look for the lowest figure in these two columns. Here, it is 250.
If you observe carefully, all the numbers in the OI column and the change in OI column are in multiples of 250.
This means the lot size of Reliance in Jan 2012 must have been 250.
If you similarly do the same for Jan 2016 expiry, and select start and end dates as 4th Jan, 2016, you’ll see the lowest number in the OI and Change in OI column is 500. And all the numbers here are in multiples of 500.
So in Jan 2016, the lot size of Reliance must have been 500.
I compared it with current lot sizes. Checked NAUKRI for the June 2021 expiry and chose the date as 2nd June, 2021. The lowest number in the OI column is 250. However, if you browse through the column, you will realise that the numbers are NOT in multiples of 250, but in multiples of 125.
To verify this, you can change the date to 3rd June, 2021 - and you’ll now spot the lowest number in the OI / change in OI column as 125.
So you derive that the lot size of NAUKRI currently is 125.
And this happens to be correct.
Hope this helps.
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