If you want to make more money on the stock exchanges get set to put in longer hours.

NDTV has learnt that market regulator SEBI has cleared a proposal to extend the trading time for cash and derivatives segments. The only issue that needs to be worked out is how much will this extension be.

Suggestions from market players are already pouring in and most want an increase in the pre-open time.

"It would make sense to open half an hour earlier. Since SGX opens earlier than us we should also open when they open, so we can trade too. While we can open early, there is no sense in closing later," said an investor.

However, there will be challenges in implementing the new timings such as risk and collateral management. Further, trade margins will have to be increased and the infrastructure at brokerages, banks and depositories need to be upgraded to handle the additional pressure.

"There are a lot of issues concerning this. Like local traders will have less time for post trading activities and banks will need to get their pay in, pay out mechanism in place," Sandeep Singhal, co head – institutional derivatives at Emkay Global.

"It must be ensured that the increase in timings is in a phased manner otherwise bigger brokers will benefit and smaller ones will be out of business," said MR Mayya, Ex-ED at BSE.

Market participants still have reservations over increase in trading time but the regulator has made its decision and given the global markets have after hours trade, it is inevitable that India too may move to a 24 hour trade cycle.