Block Deals — The 2025 Framework
SEBI overhauled block deals in 2025: a higher minimum, wider price band, compulsory delivery and disclosed identities. What changed and how to read the prints.
A block deal is how institutions move very large size without smashing the open market: a single, negotiated trade executed in a dedicated window, off the regular order book, so it doesn't trigger the price spiral that dumping the same quantity on-screen would. In 2025 SEBI rebuilt the framework — and the numbers you may have learned are now wrong.
This chapter covers the current rules and, more usefully, what a block-deal print does and doesn't tell you.
What SEBI changed in 2025
Minimum order value: Rs 25 crore (raised from Rs 10 crore) — block deals are now explicitly reserved for genuinely large institutional transactions.
Price band: ±3% of a reference price (widened from ±1%), giving negotiated trades more room while still tethering them to the market.
Compulsory delivery: every block-window trade must result in actual delivery — squaring off or reversing is not allowed. Client identities are disclosed, and the trades run in two windows: a morning window (08:45–09:00) and an afternoon window.
Why block deals exist
If a fund tried to sell Rs 200 crore of a mid-cap on the open market, its own selling would cave the price before it finished. The block window lets a buyer and seller agree a price (within the band) and cross the whole quantity at once, off the normal order book — minimal market impact, certainty of execution.
That's why block deals are an institutional signal: the Rs 25 crore floor and delivery requirement mean a block print is real money taking a real, deliverable position — not intraday churn.
How to read a block-deal print
Identities are the signal. Because counterparties are disclosed, you can often see which fund entered or exited. A marquee long-only fund taking a block is a different message from a private-equity holder distributing stock post-lock-in.
It happens at a negotiated price, not the screen. The crossing price sits within the band around a reference, so the print itself isn't a market trade you could have participated in — don't read the block price as a live level.
Delivery means conviction. Post-2025, you can't reverse a block trade, so a block buyer is committed to holding the shares — a stronger signal than a position that could be flipped intraday.
Common misreads
- Quoting the old numbers (Rs 10 cr, +/-1%) — both changed in 2025 (Rs 25 cr, +/-3%).
- Reading the block crossing price as a live market level — it's a negotiated price within a band.
- Treating a post-lock-in PE/pre-IPO block sale as bearish conviction — it's often mechanical distribution, not a view.
Key takeaways
- Block deal = a single large trade negotiated in a dedicated window, off the normal order book.
- SEBI 2025: minimum Rs 25 crore (was 10), price band +/-3% (was +/-1%).
- Compulsory delivery (no square-off) + disclosed client identities; two windows (morning 08:45-09:00 + afternoon).
- Designed for minimal market impact on huge institutional transfers.
- The disclosed counterparty is the signal; the negotiated price isn't a live market level.
Block deals after the 2025 revamp
What's the minimum size for a block deal now?
Rs 25 crore order value, raised from Rs 10 crore in SEBI's 2025 framework. The higher floor, combined with a compulsory-delivery requirement, makes block deals an instrument purely for large, committed institutional transactions rather than something a retail trader would ever execute.
How is a block deal different from a bulk deal?
A block deal is one large negotiated trade crossed in a dedicated window, off the regular order book, at a price within a band — built for minimal market impact. A bulk deal is normal on-screen trading by a single client that cumulatively crosses 0.5% of the company's shares. Different mechanism, different threshold, different market impact.
What does compulsory delivery in block deals mean for me as a reader?
It means a block buyer can't reverse the trade intraday — they must take delivery and hold. So post-2025 a block buy carries more conviction signal than before: the counterparty is committed to the position, not flipping it. It raises the information value of the print.
When are the block-deal windows?
There's a morning window from 08:45 to 09:00, plus an afternoon window, under the 2025 framework. Because SEBI revised the timings, check the current NSE/BSE circular for the exact afternoon slot before relying on it — the structure (two windows) is the durable part.
Is the block-deal price a level I can trade around?
No. The crossing happens at a negotiated price within a band around a reference, off the normal order book — it isn't a market trade you could have participated in. Use the identity and direction of the block as information; don't treat its price as live support or resistance.