Kolkata, July 27 ; Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "spreading misinformation" and "misleading" the people with regard to raising the minimum support price of Kharif crops, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday challenged the centre to increase the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) limit to Rs two lakh.

Speaking in the state assembly, Banerjee said the Central government was "falsely" claiming that it has increased the MSP of Kharif crop by 50 per cent, when it had hiked the rates by only Rs 200.

"The Prime Minister is misleading the people on the issue. He is spreading misinformation," she said.

The Central government recently approved a hike in the MSP for Kharif crops for 2018-19.

Banerjee alleged that 12,000 farmers have committed suicide in the country, but none of them were from West Bengal.

She asked the centre to raise the KCC limit to Rs 2 lakh. At the same time it attacked the centre for reportedly coming up with a proposal to display Modi's photo on KCC forms.

"We pay the larger share of the money - 60 percent, while the central government gives only 40 per cent. But recently, we came across a report that the Prime Minister's photo will be displayed on the forms," she said.

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New Delhi, Sep 24: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said 90 per cent of small investors have lost Rs 1.8 lakh crore in Futures and Option (F&O) trading in three years and asked the SEBI to reveal the names of the "so called big players" profiteering at their expense.

More than 91 per cent, or 73 lakh, individual traders lost money in the F&O segment in FY24 with an average net loss of Rs 1.2 lakh per person, a study conducted by markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) revealed on Monday.

Further, 93 per cent of over 1 crore individual F&O traders incurred average losses of about Rs 2 lakh per trader (inclusive of transaction costs) during the three years from FY22 to FY24. The aggregate losses of such traders exceeded Rs 1.8 lakh crore during the period.

Gandhi, who is the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said on X, "Uncontrolled F&O trading has grown 45X in 5 years. 90% of small investors have lost ₹1.8 lakh Cr in 3 years."

"SEBI must reveal the names of the so called 'Big Players' making a killing at their expense," the former Congress chief said.

The study said in FY24 alone, individuals incurred about Rs 75,000 crore in net losses.

It found the top 3.5 per cent of loss-makers -- about 4 lakh traders -- faced an average loss of Rs 28 lakh per person over the same period, inclusive of transaction costs.

On the other hand, only 7.2 per cent of individual F&O traders made a profit over the period of three years and only 1 per cent of individual traders managed to earn profits exceeding Rs 1 lakh, after adjusting for transaction costs.

Moreover, the number of retail traders, or individual traders, has almost doubled in two years to about 96 lakh in FY24 from about 51 lakh in FY22.

Although such investors contributed about 30 per cent to the total turnover in FY24, they are a clear majority in number terms, as 99.8 per cent of total traders in the equity F&O segment are individuals.

"The availability of sophisticated trading platforms and lower transaction costs have enabled retail investors to actively trade in options and futures contracts, contributing to the surge in market liquidity," SEBI said.

The regulator said rapid growth in F&O trading activity has highlighted the need for investor education and risk management practices, as a significant proportion of retail traders continued to incur losses in the market.