The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has set up a high-level expert working group to prepare both short- and long-term technology roadmaps for the securities market ecosystem, SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.
Speaking at an event marking 30 years of the Nifty 50 index on Monday, Pandey said the group will examine the technology architecture needed for the next phase of growth in India’s capital markets.
“We have set up a high-level expert working group to develop a short-term and a long-term strategic technology roadmap for the securities market ecosystem,” Pandey said.
Tech focus
The initiative comes as trading activity, digital participation and the complexity of market operations continue to increase, placing greater emphasis on technology infrastructure and supervisory capabilities.
Pandey also urged investors to remain calm amid ongoing global volatility triggered by geopolitical tensions and disruptions to energy supplies and shipping routes.
“We are also meeting at a time when global markets are experiencing turbulence and volatility arising from middle-east war is choking off vital shipping lines, triggering oil & gas supply and price shocks,” he said.
“Yet, amid such uncertainties, India’s domestic fundamentals have continued to remain strong, providing resilience. It is important not to panic at this moment, but to remain calm amidst this storm,” he said.
Technology will play an increasingly central role in both market functioning and regulation as the ecosystem expands, Pandey said “Technology is increasingly central to both market functioning and regulation,” he said.
SEBI has also been building internal technology capabilities to strengthen supervision of market activity. Pandey said the regulator has developed in-house tools to monitor digital activity and market communication more closely.
These include ‘SEBI Sudarshan’, a real-time scanner used for surveillance of unauthorised digital activity, and ‘SEBI R(AI)DAR’, an artificial intelligence-based system for reviewing advertisements related to securities markets.
“We are strengthening our supervisory capabilities through internally developed tools such as SEBI Sudarshan… and SEBI R(AI)DAR,” Pandey said, adding that the regulator is also deploying analytical tools to conduct sentiment analysis of corporate announcements.
Governance push
At the same time, SEBI has introduced measures to strengthen governance and oversight of market infrastructure institutions (MIIs), including stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories.
Pandey said the regulator has mandated external independent performance evaluations of MIIs and their statutory committees and issued governance guidelines aimed at strengthening board oversight and clarifying reporting lines for key management personnel.