SEBI decided to introduce an IT Resilience Index (ITRI) to assess the information technology functioning and resilience of Market Infrastructure Institutions such as stock exchanges, clearing corporations, and depositories. The index will provide a structured, quantitative measure of how well these entities can withstand and recover from IT disruptions. The move reflects SEBI's growing regulatory focus on systemic cyber risk and operational continuity across India's critical capital market infrastructure.

Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) — stock exchanges like NSE and BSE, clearing corporations like NSCCL, and depositories like NSDL and CDSL — form the backbone of India's securities markets. Any IT failure at these entities can cascade into systemic risk: trade halts, settlement failures, and investor harm at scale.

The IT Resilience Index (ITRI) is SEBI's tool to shift MII oversight from a compliance-checkbox model to a continuous, scored assessment framework. Rather than requiring MIIs to merely report IT incidents, ITRI will generate a composite score measuring parameters such as system uptime, disaster recovery readiness, cybersecurity posture, and incident response time.

This builds on SEBI's earlier circulars on technology governance for MIIs, including mandates for Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Disaster Recovery (DR) sites, and annual technology audits. ITRI adds a comparative, index-based layer — allowing SEBI to rank, monitor, and intervene based on relative resilience scores.

For aspirants, the conceptual anchor is that SEBI regulates not just market conduct but the operational infrastructure that makes markets function. ITRI sits within SEBI's broader mandate under Section 11 of the SEBI Act to protect investor interests and ensure orderly market development. The introduction of a named, quantified index is the kind of regulatory innovation the examiner tests — because it has an acronym, a purpose, and a specific regulatory context.