The Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”), vide a Press Release dated October 19, 2020  (“Press Release”) notified the constitution of a standing committee, namely the Market Data Advisory Committee (“MDAC”), as a part of SEBI’s initiative to make shareable data on the Indian securities market, available for researchers, policy makers, general public alike and to enhance the quality of such data.

The Committee is chaired by Ms. Madhabi Puri Buch, whole time member, SEBI and includes the CEOs of stock exchanges and depositories, representatives of various stakeholders and senior SEBI officials as members. 

The key functions of MDAC are:

1. To recommend an appropriate policy for enabling access to securities market data;
2. To identify segment wise data perimeters, data needs and gap and
3. To recommend data privacy and data access regulations applicable to market data.

SEBI has noted in the Press Release that financial  markets are traditionally data rich and data driven and with the increase in the size and complexity of the financial markets, data has become crucial for research, decision making and innovations in financial markets.

The Press Release briefly discusses the other initiatives taken by SEBI to make available to the public shareable data on the Indian securities market. These initiatives are:

1. SEBI’s data sharing policy;
2. Curated links for securities market data;
3. Enriching data provision by market infrastructure (MIIs) and
4. Reorganization of data resources on SEBI’s website.

SEBI recognizes non-private data as a public good and believes that access to high quality standardized data is essential to foster market transparency, operational efficiency, and innovations in Indian securities market.

Please find a copy of the Press Release here.

This update has been contributed by Anurag Prasad (Associate).