Recognised depositories must maintain the integrity of automatic data-processing systems and protect records against loss, destruction or tampering. Sufficient backup records must be available at a different location at all times to ensure preservation and recoverability where records are lost or destroyed.

Recognised depositories must maintain adequate mechanisms for reviewing, monitoring and evaluating their controls, systems, procedures and safeguards. The general operational requirement covers each internal control element and requires mechanisms capable of performing review, monitoring and evaluation functions.

Recognised depositories must maintain systems and procedures that enable coordination with issuers or their agents and participants for daily reconciliation of securities ownership records. The requirement is directed at ensuring accurate and current ownership records within the depository framework.

Dematerialisation of securities requires an issuer to enter into an agreement with a recognised depository when the issuer or an investor exercises the option to hold securities in dematerialised form. No agreement is required where the depository is itself the issuer or where government securities are issued by the Central Government of India or a State Government. Where a Registrar to the Issue or Share Transfer Agent is appointed, the depository, issuer and registrar or agent must execute a tripartite agreement for securities declared eligible for dematerialised holding.

Regulation 45 requires a recognised depository to enter into an agreement with one or more participants acting as its agents. The arrangement establishes the required agency relationship between the depository and its participant or participants.

Regulation 44 permits all securities defined under the SCRA and other permitted financial products to be held in dematerialised form with a recognised depository. Eligibility was broadened with effect from 1 November 2024 by replacing the earlier reference to eligible instruments under the IFSCA Act with other permitted financial products.

Priority of clearing corporation recovery applies to dues arising from clearing members' clearing and settlement functions. A recognised clearing corporation may recover these dues from the clearing members' collateral, deposits and assets, with priority over every other liability of or claim against the clearing members.

Recognised clearing corporations handling physically settled commodity derivatives must ensure a financial guarantee for trade settlement, including good delivery. Good delivery requires goods to be capable of transferring title and to conform to the quality and quantity specifications of the relevant exchange contract.

Payment and settlement through recognised stock exchanges and recognised clearing corporations must follow approved netting or gross procedures under their bye-laws. Such settlements are final, irrevocable and binding on the parties. Once settlement finality arises, the exchange or clearing corporation has priority to appropriate collateral, deposits or margins contributed by a broker dealer, clearing member or client towards settlement or other obligations, ahead of competing liabilities or claims. Finality arises when the payable obligations are determined, whether or not actual payment or delivery has occurred.

Bye-laws governing contracts and clearing and settlement must be made by recognised stock exchanges and recognised clearing corporations only with the Authority's prior approval. Amendments to those bye-laws, and to constitutional documents concerning matters under the SCRA or the Market Infrastructure Institutions Regulations, also require prior approval.

Recognised stock exchanges and recognised clearing corporations must maintain and preserve prescribed books of account, documents, and records in electronic retrieval form for at least eight years. Clearing corporations must retain governing board and committee minutes, clearing-member and settlement-account details, transaction records, security and margin deposit records, client-margin collection details, ledgers, journals, cash books, bank statements, and further records specified by the Authority.

Equal, fair and transparent access to clearing and settlement services requires recognised clearing corporations to maintain and publish a non-discriminatory access framework. The framework must state the basis for shareholder stock exchange access and the requirements non-shareholder stock exchanges must satisfy to obtain access. Recognised stock exchanges and clearing corporations must provide equal, unrestricted and transparent access to all persons without favouring associates or related entities.

Utilization of profits and investments by a recognised stock exchange or recognised clearing corporation must comply with norms specified by the Authority. Deployment of funds generally requires prior approval. Treasury investments are exempt where they comply with a governing-board-approved investment policy. Activities involving fund deployment or otherwise unrelated or not incidental to market infrastructure functions may be undertaken through a separate legal entity, subject to the Authority's approval.

Recognised stock exchanges and recognised clearing corporations must maintain a Business Continuity Plan and a Disaster Recovery Site. The arrangements must preserve data and transaction integrity in the manner specified by the Authority from time to time.

Recognised stock exchanges providing co-location facilities must supervise and monitor them to maintain the integrity, security and privacy of data and trading systems. They must ensure equal and fair access for participants and publish quarterly reports on exchange-observed latencies on their websites.

A recognised stock exchange must maintain a procedure to halt trading in the market or an individual scrip in response to volatility or before major company-specific announcements. The trading-halt mechanism is intended to promote fair and orderly trading.

Recognised stock exchanges must establish detailed product-specific position-limit frameworks. Recognised clearing corporations must maintain risk management frameworks aligned with the CPMI-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures, adopt globally consistent margining practices, maintain sufficient capital for key risks, and conduct stress and liquidity testing. Eligible collateral includes cash, specified securities and gold, while cash and cash equivalents must constitute at least 50% of total liquid assets. Clearing corporations must also be ring-fenced from holding companies and maintain additional capital for orderly recovery or wind-down.

Trading hours are determined through cost-benefit analysis, capped at 23 hours and 30 minutes daily, with settlement required at least once a day. Clearing corporations must collateralise mark-to-market losses on open futures contracts at regular, risk-assessed intervals during trading. Recognised stock exchanges and clearing corporations must maintain risk management systems and infrastructure adequate for their trading hours and settlement arrangements.

Every recognised clearing corporation must establish and maintain a Settlement Guarantee Fund to guarantee settlement of trades executed on a stock exchange. The fund corpus must meet the prescribed minimum based on monthly stress-test value or USD 1 million, whichever is higher, and must be adequate to address clearing member defaults. Periodic stress tests must assess corpus sufficiency. An Authority-approved framework must govern contributions by clearing members, the clearing corporation and stock exchange, and provide for replenishment following a shortfall.

A recognised stock exchange must establish an Investor Education and Protection Fund in accordance with requirements specified by the Authority. This forms part of the general obligations applicable to recognised stock exchanges under the Market Infrastructure Institutions regulatory framework.