Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Saturday, Oct 11, outlined a comprehensive five-pillar roadmap at bolstering the resilience of India’s capital markets by 2030.

Speaking at the Capital Market Confluence 2025, organised by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Broker’s Forum, Pandey said that SEBI’s long-term goal was to build resilient institutions, not just successful businesses.

He said that a focus on technology, inclusion, governance, innovation, and ease of doing business could help achieve the goal.

He further emphasised that investor trust remains the foundation of country’s financial ecosystem.

Technology, data and cybersecurity 

Pandey said that the future of market resilience is “digital resilience”, noting that algorithmic and high-frequency trading is under continuous review to ensure transparency and fairness.

He added that SEBI will soon release Air Gap guidelines as part of its cybersecurity framework, and clearing corporations can now back each other in case of system failures – a redundancy model operational since December 2023.

The regulator is also using data analytics for predictive surveillance to identify manipulative practices such as pump-and-dump schemes.

Inclusion and investor empowerment 

Citing a recent SEBI survey, Pandey said that only 9.5% of households invest in securities, with urban participation (15%) being far higher than rural (6%).

To deepen market reach, SEBI has simplified KYC norms and is working to ease access for NRIs, he further stated, adding that investor protection efforts include combating cyber scams and finfluencer misinformation through SEBI CHECK, Saarthi app and the SEBIvsSCAM campaign.

Governance and accountability 

Reiterating the need for strong governance, Pandey said no director can retain a permanent board seat without shareholder approval, and independent directors are now mandatory for board meeting quorams.

For Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs), SEBI has mandated two Executive Directors to reduce key-man risk and prioritise public interest over commercial gain.

Product innovation 

Pandey highlighted the introduction of Mutual Fund Lite, Specialised Investment Funds, and Chhoti SIPs to widen participation.

In the bond market, SEBI has reduced the minimum ticket size for privately placed bonds to ₹10,000 and operationalised Online Bond Platform Providers (OBPP). 

Ease of doing business

Under its ease of doing business drive, Pandey said that SEBI has shortened the IPO listing timeline to T+3 days, reduced rights issue timelines to 23 days, and launched Samuhik Prativedan Manch, which is a common compliance platform for stock brokers.

The SWAGAT-FI framework aims to streamline the registration of foreign portfolio investors (FPI) through full digitisation.

For his ‘Vision 2030’, Pandey, said, “Our collective goal must be to build resilient institutions,” adding that sustainable growth will depend on innovation, market depth, and the long-term, financial well-being of investors.