NIFTY or Sensex circuit-breaker rules in India

The index-based market-wide circuit breaker is triggered when either the NIFTY 50 or BSE Sensex moves 10%, 15% or 20%—up or down—from the previous trading day’s closing level. Whichever index reaches the threshold first triggers a coordinated halt across India’s equity and equity-derivative markets. (nseindia.com)

Index movement Time threshold is reached Trading halt Pre-open session

These timings reflect the current NSE framework, under which the normal halt is followed by a 15-minute pre-open call auction before regular trading resumes. (nseindia.com)

Example

Suppose yesterday’s NIFTY 50 closing level was 25,000:

• 10% upper circuit: 27,500
• 10% lower circuit: 22,500
• 15% upper circuit: 28,750
• 15% lower circuit: 21,250
• 20% upper circuit: 30,000
• 20% lower circuit: 20,000

NSE calculates and publishes the exact circuit levels every trading day using the previous day’s closing index value and rounds them to the applicable tick size. (nseindia.com)

Important distinction

The NIFTY circuit breaker is market-wide. It is different from an individual stock’s circuit or price band.

• NIFTY 50/Sensex trigger: 10%, 15% and 20%
• Individual cash-market stocks may have 2%, 5%, 10% or 20% price bands
• Stocks with derivatives generally do not have fixed daily price bands; they operate under dynamic price bands, which exchanges may relax under specified conditions. (nseindia.com)

Bank Nifty, Nifty IT, Nifty Auto and other sectoral indices do not independently trigger the nationwide circuit breaker. The trigger is based on the NIFTY 50 or Sensex, whichever breaches the applicable level first.