SEBI’s 24 August circular introduces an IT Resilience Index for stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories, excluding AMC Repo Clearing Ltd. The index will measure the health of their critical technology systems, including availability, security, reliability and ability to maintain operations during disruption.

Institutions must calculate the index every six months and report the results, comparisons with the preceding period and corrective action to their technology committee and governing board. The framework, including early-warning systems and continuous monitoring of service delivery, is to be operational by 28 February 2027. The first index submission will cover the half-year ending 31 March 2027. This gives directors a defined basis for examining deteriorating performance and whether identified weaknesses are being resolved.

Two September consultations address related gaps. The 11 September paper considers extending MII IT and cybersecurity requirements to subsidiaries. The 15 September paper examines stronger business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements: keeping essential services running during disruption and restoring affected systems and data. For MII boards, the combined issue is whether resilience arrangements cover the subsidiary operations and technology dependencies on which market services rely, as well as the institution’s own systems.
 

Sources: IT Resilience Index circular | Subsidiary framework consultation | BCP and DR consultation