On Friday, capital markets regulator SEBI fixed the minimum duration of the staggered delivery period at five working days for all commodity futures. This step is taken in order to bring uniformity in the timeline across exchanges. 
The staggered delivery period is the duration during which sellers or buyers having an open position may submit an intention to give or take the delivery of the contract.
Currently, there is no uniformity in the length of the staggered delivery period for commodity futures contracts across exchanges even for the same commodities, according to the SEBI circular.
“All compulsory delivery commodity futures contracts (agriculture commodities as well as non-agriculture commodities) shall have a staggered delivery period. The minimum duration of the staggered delivery period shall be at least five working days” the circular mentioned.
In the circular, it was clarified that the exchanges shall have the flexibility to set the higher duration of the staggered delivery period for a commodity futures contract after taking into account factors such as historical open interest, volume near expiry, etc.
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