CIRCULAR
SEBI/HO/MRD/TPD/CIR/P/2024/171 December 10, 2024
To,
All Stock Exchanges,
All Clearing Corporations,
(except Commodity Derivative segment)
All Depositories
Dear Sir/ Madam,
Subject: - Revised Guidelines for Capacity Planning and Real Time Performance
Monitoring framework of Market Infrastructure Institutions(MIIs)
1. Chapter 2 of SEBI Master Circular dated October 16, 2023 inter-alia prescribes
capacity planning framework for Stock Exchanges, Clearing Corporations. Further,
Section 4 of SEBI Master Circular dated December 03, 2024 prescribes capacity
planning framework for Depositories.
2. MIIs (i.e. Stock Exchanges, Clearing Corporations and Depositories), being
systemically important institutions, provide infrastructure necessary for the smooth
and uninterrupted functioning of the Securities Market. Therefore, it is imperative for
the MIIs to continuously assess and monitor their system capacities. Over the years,
owing to the growth of the securities market, MIIs have experienced increase in
volumes, which necessitated augmenting their infrastructure relating to trading,
clearing and settlement etc.
3. The framework adopted by the MIIs for their capacity planning was reviewed by SEBI
in consultation with the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of SEBI. Based on the
recommendations of the Committee and in consultation with MIIs, it has been decided
to advise MIIs to ensure the following requirements while formulating the framework
of capacity planning and real time performance monitoring of their Critical Information
Technology(IT) systems and supporting infrastructure components: -
3.1 Capacity planning methodology should be proactive, future ready and developed
to help estimate/forecast future projected capacity requirements to support
business activities and minimize the risk of service disruption (taking into account
trend analysis of system utilization, historical volume, maximum allowed volume
to all members/participants taken together such as number of orders/messages
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per second, projection of customer growth/transaction volume, system
performance issues, implication of any new business initiatives, possible surge in
transaction volume etc.) Details of the methodology adopted by MIIs shall be
submitted to SEBI within 3 months from the date of the issue of this Circular after
taking approval of their Standing Committee on Technology (SCOT) and
Governing Board.
3.2 All MIIs should ensure adequate system capacity in place to handle high volumes
to ensure high level of service availability.
3.3 The installed capacity shall be at least 1.5 times (1.5x) of the projected peak load.
3.4 The projected peak load shall be calculated for the next 60 days based on the
sustained peak load trend of the past 180 days and other relevant factors including
futuristic factors as mentioned at Clause number 3.1 above. However, MIIs may
also calculate the projected peak load for time duration shorter than 60 days. The
exact duration of sustained peak load to be considered by MIIs to calculate the
projected peak load shall be decided based on the consultation with their SCOT.
However, the outer limit for sustained peak load shall be 10 seconds for Stock
Exchanges and Clearing Corporations and 5 minutes for Depositories.
3.5 MIIs shall conduct comprehensive stress testing on quarterly basis to identify the
impact on throughput/performance/latency metrics when compared to lean period
by stressing the existing load scenarios to various multiples.
3.6 MIIs shall ensure that application design should have horizontal and vertical
scalability and the same shall be tested on periodic basis.
3.7 MIIs shall have guidelines/Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) to identify and
understand the performance of each application/process, capacity, utilization of
each individual IT component, within the entire system/network architecture, used
to support their IT services.
3.8 While devising the capacity planning and real time performance monitoring
methodology, MIIs should not consider each IT component/application/process in
isolation and must consider inter-dependency of the IT
components/applications/processes.
3.9 All IT systems shall be considered in this process which shall, inter-alia, include
network, hardware, software, security devices, network devices, memory
utilization, CPU utilization, disks, network links, third party vendor systems,
supporting infrastructure etc., and shall be adequately sized to meet the capacity
and real time performance requirements to support the business activities of the
MII.
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3.10 All MIIs shall implement automated performance monitoring and alert system
covering all their critical applications/activities/IT components to continuously
monitor the real time performance of processes/applications and utilization of its
system resources at each IT component level against a set of pre-defined
thresholds. These thresholds should enable the MIIs to do early detection of any
possible performance issue, slowness etc. and should be set accordingly. A
dedicated team should monitor such alerts and SOPs should be put in place to
address such alerts in a timely manner to ensure performance of
systems/applications/processes of MIIs. The said performance monitoring and
alert system shall be reviewed on quarterly basis.
3.11 Alerts generated from the monitoring and detection systems shall be dealt
proactively including necessary actions such as infrastructure up-gradation,
addition of IT resources etc. shall be taken immediately to address the issue
effectively.
3.12 All MIIs shall maintain an asset register of all IT components and monitor their
usage on a continuous basis. MIIs shall examine and establish an appropriate
threshold on utilization of each component. If actual utilization of any component
of MII exceeds the threshold over a period as defined by MII, immediate action
shall be taken to enhance the capacity. The threshold must be reviewed and
approved by SCOT of the MII.
3.13 In general, if actual capacity utilization of any component of Stock Exchanges and
Clearing Corporations exceeds 75% of the installed capacity, immediate action
shall be taken to enhance the capacity. For Depositories, if actual capacity
utilization of any IT component exceeds 75% of the installed capacity over a
period of 15 days on rolling basis, immediate action shall be taken to enhance the
capacity.
3.14 All MIIs shall assess impact of all changes to existing IT systems or introduction
of new IT systems/applications/processes on capacity planning and real time
system performances.
3.15 All MIIs shall also appropriately include the capacity planning and real time
performance monitoring and alert resolution requirements in the service level
agreement (SLA) with the third party vendors, as applicable, to meet the current
and future business requirements.
3.16 All MIIs should have clearly defined ‘Capacity Planning and Real Time
Performance Monitoring Policy’ which shall be approved by their SCOT and Board
and would inter-alia cover various requirements of this circular. Further, the policy
would require to clearly set out, among others, appropriate system utilization
thresholds to provide sufficient time to meet the lead time for procurement of
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additional resources or take corrective measures during real time. Such policy
shall also be reviewed at least on annual basis by the MII.
4. Considering the above, Stock Exchanges, Clearing Corporations and Depositories are
advised to submit their revised guidelines to SEBI on capacity planning and real time
performance monitoring of all IT systems after taking approval from SCOT and
Governing Board within 3 months from the date of this Circular.
5. The provision at para 3.1 shall come into effect 3 months from the date of this circular.
The remaining provisions of this circular shall come into force with immediate effect.
6. This Circular supersedes the Clause 12.1 of Chapter 2 of SEBI Master Circular dated
October 16, 2023 and Clause 4.62 of SEBI Master Circular dated December 03, 2024.
7. MIIs are required to take necessary steps to put in place systems for implementation
of the Circular, including necessary amendments to the relevant bye-laws, rules and
regulations, if any.
8. This Circular is being issued in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 11(1) of
Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 read with Regulation 51 of
Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations)
Regulations, 2018 and Section 19 of the Depositories Act, 1996 read with Regulation
97 of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Depositories and Participants)
Regulations, 2018 to protect the interest of investors in securities market and to
promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market.
9. The Circular is issued with the approval of Competent Authority.
10. This Circular is available on SEBI website at www.sebi.gov.in under the categories
“Legal Framework” and “Circulars”.
Yours faithfully,
Ansuman Dev Pradhan
General Manager
+91-22-26449622
ansumanp@sebi.gov.in
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