RBI and SEBI Tighten Cybersecurity Net Around India's Financial Sector

Gist As Artificial Intelligence AI and deepfake technologies make financial fraud easier to scale, India’s primary financial regulators, RBI and SEBI, have introduced comprehensive cybersecurity frameworks. SEBI has launched a quantifiable IT Resilience Index ITRI for market institutions, while the RBI has mandated stricter governance and rapid incident reporting for banks. Aspirants should note this shift from reactive cybersecurity to proactive, measurable resilience, which marks a significant evolution in India's financial governance architecture. Background Market Infrastructure Institutions MIIs —such as clearing corporations, depositories, and stock exchanges—form the critical backbone of the securities market. Any systemic disruption here threatens the entire financial ecosystem. Previously, cybersecurity in the financial sector relied heavily on fragmented, post-incident reporting and abstract risk assessments. With the advent of AI, threats like deepfake-bypassed KYC and automated phishing have outpaced traditional defenses, forcing regulators to move toward standardized lifecycle reporting, continuous monitoring, and board-level accountability. Key Pointers Shift to Quantifiable Resilience: By introducing the IT Resilience Index ITRI , SEBI is transforming abstract cyber readiness into a measurable metric, thereby enforcing direct boardroom accountability for IT vulnerabilities. Lifecycle…