Trading outage: Sebi seeks explanation from NSE for not migrating to disaster recovery site

Mumbai: Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday asked the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to explain why trading on the bourse did not migrate to a disaster recovery site after facing connectivity issues.

It also advised the NSE to carry out a detailed root cause analysis of the “trading halt” witnessed at the exchange on Wednesday.

The NSE should “explain the reasons for trading not migrating to the disaster recovery site” and asked it to submit a report at the earliest, according to an official statement.  A disaster recovery system helps as a plan-B in times of distress to ensure that activity is not affected.

Trading across segments was halted at 11.40 am on Wednesday due to “issues with the links with telecom service providers”, according to the NSE.

The bourse said it depends on two telecom service providers for connectivity, and both failed simultaneously resulting in the outage.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said it was in constant touch with NSE officials and continued to monitor the situation closely.

“The NSE was also advised to keep the market participants updated with the evolving developments,” it said.
The “trading halt” continued till 3.30 pm. In view of the exceptional situation arising out of it, it was decided to extend the trading hours from 3.30 pm to 5.00 pm at the NSE, the BSE and the Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India.