SEBI Proposes IT Resilience Index (ITRI) for Market Infrastructure Institutions to Fortify Technological Robustness
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has released a consultation paper outlining a structured framework for the creation and periodic computation of an IT Resilience Index (ITRI) applicable to Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs). This initiative reflects SEBI's commitment to strengthening the technological backbone of India's securities market and ensuring that critical systems remain secure, available, and operationally sound at all times.
Background and Context
Why an IT Resilience Index?
The uninterrupted functioning of India's securities market is heavily dependent on the technological infrastructure maintained by MIIs — which include stock exchanges, clearing corporations, and depositories. Any disruption, vulnerability, or inefficiency in these systems can have far-reaching consequences for market participants, investors, and the broader financial ecosystem.
Recognizing this dependency, SEBI initiated discussions with MIIs to develop a structured mechanism that could quantitatively measure the health and resilience of their IT systems. These deliberations eventually gave rise to the concept of the ITRI — an index designed to offer granular, periodic insights into how well an MII's IT environment is functioning across multiple dimensions.
SEBI's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has been actively involved in evaluating a working model of this index that MIIs had already piloted. The outcomes of those evaluations were reviewed across multiple TAC meetings, forming the regulatory basis for the current consultation paper released on March 25, 2026.
Important Note: MIIs have already implemented a beta version of the ITRI framework. Full operationalization is expected within six months from the date of the final Circular, with the first formal submission covering the half-year ending September 30, 2026.
Regulatory Objectives of the ITRI Framework
SEBI has articulated three core regulatory objectives underpinning this framework:
System-Driven Computation: To establish a standardized, automated methodology for computing the ITRI, minimizing manual intervention and thereby reducing discretionary bias.
Temporal Benchmarking: To enable MIIs to track changes in the health and efficacy of their IT systems over successive periods, facilitating identification of trends and areas requiring remediation.
Cross-Institutional Comparability: To create a uniform set of metrics and assigned weightages that allow meaningful comparison of ITRI scores across different MIIs, thereby enabling SEBI to assess relative technological resilience across the market infrastructure landscape.
Key Proposals in the Draft Circular
Scope of the ITRI
The ITRI is designed to measure the robustness of Critical Systems of MIIs, as defined under: