NASCOM Recommends SEBI Adopt Sandbox Policy

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASCOM) recently requested the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to introduce a regulation for sandbox technology as a requirement for investment. The idea behind sandboxing is that any developmental and disruptive technology can be tested using real data and real circumstances in an isolated environment. While this does add to the difficulties and effort required by developers to release and develop their technology, it creates a greater pool of data from which developers and regulators can verify the veracity and suitability of a particular technology for public consumption or usage.

As reported by the Press Trust of India, the president of NASCOM, Debiani Ghosh, mentioned this as one of the challenges that regulators would have to face as a fallout from artificial intelligence and big data.

The SEBI has been considering a sandbox regulation policy for algorithmic trading, noting the requirement for the past two years. They had even noted during the constitution of a committee the requirement for a sandbox policy. Towards the latter part of 2018 SEBI said that it was likely to come out with a sandbox policy within the next few months. This call by the NASCOM furthers the dialogue along these lines.