Jane Street barred from Indian markets as regulator freezes $566M

Anyone have any recommendations for books/papers/articles (math heavy is fine) that give a good steel man argument for why options and derivatives are beneficial?

I can wrap my head around why/how options for physical commodities give price stability for sellers and buyers. But at first glance I struggle to see how derivatives are beneficial in the equity markets. The argument is that derivatives increase market efficiency (more accurate pricing) over what just a simple buy/sell market would give you right? But how valuable is this increased efficiency? Obviously is super valuable to the people who work in finance, but how valuable is it outside of that context?

The idea that always felt at least tentatively compelling to me is that options prices themselves allow a way for people to express their sentiments about whether a security is under-priced or over-priced — while putting money on the line to do so.

Under-priced? Buy the stock. Over-priced? Long or short sell the stock. In your case, why do you need options? All are much lower risk than retail folks using options.