18-May: NSE to Conduct Live Trading Session with Disaster Recovery Switch

National Stock Exchange (NSE) on May 7 announced that it shall conduct special live trading session with the intra-day switchover from Primary site to Disaster Recovery site on Saturday, May 18, 2024 in equity and equity derivative segments to check their preparedness to handle major disruption or failure at the primary site.

"Members are requested to note that Exchange shall be conducting special live trading session with intra-day switch over from Primary site to Disaster Recovery site on Saturday, May 18, 2024 in Equity and Equity Derivatives segments," the exchange stated in a release.

The special live trading session adheres to SEBI guidelines and will be divided into two parts. The first session would begin at 9:15 am and run till 10 am. Trading in this session would be done from the primary site and the second session from the disaster recovery site, trading would be held between 11:45 am and 1 pm.

"All securities (including those on which derivative products are available) will have a maximum price band of 5%. Securities already in 2% or lower price band, shall continue to be available in the respective bands. Price bands of 5% will be applicable on all close ended Mutual Funds," NSE mentioned.

"All futures contracts shall have daily operating range of 5%. No flexing of securities or futures contracts shall be applicable on that day. The price band for Equity segment and Futures contracts which will be applicable at the start of the day at DC shall be applicable at DR too. Any changes in price bands of options contracts due to market factors up to the close time at Primary site would be carried forward to Disaster Recovery site," it further said.

During the special live trading session, there will be an intra-day transition from the Primary Site (PR) to the Disaster Recovery (DR) site. A Disaster Recovery site is indispensable for all vital institutions such as exchanges, ensuring operational continuity in the event of any unforeseen circumstances impacting the main trading center in Mumbai, thereby facilitating seamless and uninterrupted operations.

The timings are as follows:

A special trading session is also being held to evaluate the readiness of Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) in handling unforeseen events such as system outages affecting their operations. It aims to assess their ability to restore operations from the disaster recovery site, aligning with SEBI's framework for business continuity.

This marks the third occasion this year where traders are required to work on a Saturday. Initially scheduled for January 20 (Saturday), the first disaster recovery session was extended to a full-fledged one due to the declaration of January 22 (Monday) as a holiday for the Ram Mandir inauguration. Comparable sessions from the disaster recovery site occurred previously in 2016 and 2017.