Cybersecurity Compliance
Selling to Indian Banks: The Security Review Your SaaS Will Face
If your SaaS product is being evaluated by an Indian bank, NBFC or SEBI-regulated entity, the vendor-security review you'll face is shaped directly by regulatory obligations your buyer has to satisfy - RBI's cyber security framework, SEBI's CSCRF, CERT-In's directions. It looks different from a typical US or EU enterprise security questionnaire, and knowing what's coming saves real deal time.
Why this review is different from a generic security questionnaire
Your buyer's own regulator holds them accountable for the vendors they use, so their review isn't generic due diligence - it's them building evidence for their own compliance file. That changes what they'll ask for and how strictly they'll enforce it.
What's almost always asked for
- A VAPT report on your product, often required to be from a CERT-In empanelled auditor or at minimum structured in that format.
- Data localization confirmation, if any payment or sensitive personal data is involved - RBI's payment-data localization rule has no general foreign-vendor exemption.
- Evidence of ISO 27001 or an equivalent security management framework.
- Incident-reporting commitments aligned to CERT-In's six-hour window and your buyer's own regulatory timeline.
- Clarity on where data is hosted and who can access it, often with specific contractual language required.
Where global-standard certifications help, and where they don't
SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification is genuinely useful evidence and speeds up the conversation, but it typically doesn't fully substitute for a CERT-In-aligned VAPT report or India-specific data-localization commitments - these are usually additive requirements, not alternatives.
What to prepare before the review starts, not during it
- A CERT-In-aligned VAPT report, refreshed within the last 12 months.
- A clear, written answer on data residency for any India-related data.
- A named point of contact and process for incident notification within the required timeline.
- Your ISO 27001/SOC 2 certification, if held, mapped explicitly to the specific controls your buyer is likely to ask about.
Need help with this in practice?
A5 Cyber Nexus audits, remediates and certifies against these frameworks.
Frequently asked questions
We already have SOC 2 - why is this still so involved?
SOC 2 is good evidence, but your buyer's own regulator (RBI, SEBI) expects specific India-context requirements - data localization, CERT-In-aligned testing, incident-reporting timelines - that SOC 2 doesn't cover by itself.
How long should we budget for this review?
If you prepare the core evidence (VAPT, data-residency answer, certification mapping) before the review starts rather than scrambling once it's requested, it moves significantly faster - budget weeks, not days, if starting from zero.
Make it accessible.
Make it attack-ready.
Prove both before launch.
Bring us your app, audit deadline, or security concern. We'll map the fastest path to WCAG conformance, VAPT coverage, and regulator-ready evidence.
