SEBI sets out position on free data access
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has published a notable circular making clear its approach to securities market data access and terms of use, following a review by its Market Data Advisory Committee.
It emphasises the vital and growing importance of data, and recognises the role of value-added data distributors in making information available. “With increasing size and complexity of financial markets, addressing information asymmetry and having adequately informed investors and multiple stakeholders in the market cannot be overemphasised.”
With immediate effect, SEBI therefore affirms that: “As far as the data provided by various data sources in Indian securities markets pursuant to regulatory mandates for reporting and disclosure in public domain are concerned, such data should be made available to users, ‘free of charge’ both for ‘viewing’ the data as also for download in the format as specified by regulatory mandate for reporting, as well as their usage for the value addition purposes.”
This clarity on expectations with regard to data strikes us as valuable, and we are very pleased to see this recognition of the crucial value of information for financial markets.
Read more here.
