Mumbai
: Central Depository Services (India) Limited
(“CDSL”), Asia’s first listed depository, in collaboration with KPMG in India,
has released the third edition of its Reimagine Thought Leadership report
titled “Reimagine: Securities Market through Data Synergy”, following its third
annual Reimagine Symposium held earlier this year. The report proposes a Creation–Control–Culture
(3C) framework to guide data-led transformation across India’s securities
market ecosystem.
The
report highlights that “data risk is market risk,” and outlines how a
structured data governance approach can strengthen resilience, transparency,
and innovation across India’s securities market ecosystem. It proposes a 3C
framework that enables market institutions to build shared data infrastructure,
embed robust governance and cyber safeguards, and foster responsible data
practices across the ecosystem. The report also presents the concept of a
central regulatory operating model within market institutions, helping align
regulatory expectations, improve interoperability across market participants,
and enable more effective risk management and investor protection in an increasingly
data-driven market.
Shri.
Nehal Vora, MD & CEO, CDSL, said: “Data
synergy is the force that brings Creation, Control and Culture together – enabling
innovation while strengthening trust. When data becomes intelligent and
interoperable, it powers a market that is resilient by design and trust-enabled
at its core. Such an ecosystem goes beyond facilitating transactions; it
empowers the Atmanirbhar investor and supports India’s journey towards a truly
Viksit Bharat.”
India’s
securities market is witnessing rapid expansion in investor participation.
While household participation is currently estimated at around 20%, leaving
significant headroom for future growth compared with more mature markets such
as the United States, the expanding investor base presents a strong opportunity
to deepen financial inclusion and strengthen investor awareness across the
country.
Further,
the report highlights four key opportunity areas where data can transform the
ecosystem: stronger price discovery and curated products, personalised investor
experience at scale, improved risk intelligence and fraud prevention, and more
agile supervision through Regulatory Technology (RegTech) and Supervisory
Technology (SupTech).
Commenting
on the report, Shri. Akhilesh Tuteja, Partner and National Leader, Clients
& Markets, KPMG in India, said: “Human intelligence has driven
modern economies; the next phase of growth will depend on how well we harness
intelligent data. As this report suggests, data risk is market risk. Treating
data as core market infrastructure is critical for India to sustain market
leadership and investor confidence”
The
proposed 3C framework outlines a structured path for building a trusted
data ecosystem:
·
Creation
celebrates India’s capacity to build shared utilities including market data
dictionaries, machine-readable disclosures, secure API pipelines, and
privacy-preserving simulation environments that unlock research and product
innovation across the ecosystem.
·
Control
strengthens the system with smart guardrails including privacy-by-design,
standardized lineage, cyber resilience programs (including post-quantum
readiness), and responsible AI governance (including the vision of an
industry-wide AI model registry). These controls accelerate progress by making
it sustainable and trusted.
·
Culture
makes the transformation durable by tying incentives to data quality,
explainability, responsiveness, and investor outcomes; and by scaling
multilingual investor education that converts awareness into confident
participation.
The
report also draws on insights from the Reimagine: Securities Market through
Data Synergy symposium, which was attended by Shri Tuhin Kanta Pandey,
Chairman, SEBI, as Chief Guest, and Shri Sandip Pradhan, Whole-Time
Member, SEBI, and Shri Keki Mistry, Former Vice Chairman & CEO, HDFC, as
Guests of Honour. The symposium brought together leaders from across the
securities market, financial services, and technology ecosystem, with panel
discussions exploring themes such as “Data’s Superpower – Driving Innovation
at Scale,” “Data is Capital – Trust is the Currency,” and “Data as DNA – A
Cultural Shift.”
As
data becomes the backbone of financial markets, the report underscores the need
for coordinated action across regulators, market infrastructure institutions,
intermediaries and investors to build a resilient and trusted data ecosystem
that can support India’s vision of a Viksit Bharat.
The full report is available here: CDSL Thought Leadership Report