Peradeo Blog · Asia-Pacific · Published 2026-08-28 · 8 min read
Web Accessibility in India: The RPwD Act, GIGW 3.0, IS 17802 — and the SEBI Mandate That Changed Everything
By Vatsal Shah — Founder & CEO, IAAP WAS-Certified Accessibility Professional
India's web accessibility landscape has transformed faster than almost anywhere in the world. In April 2025 the Supreme Court of India held that the right to digital access is an intrinsic component of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution — and within months, the securities regulator turned that principle into hard deadlines for thousands of companies.
The legal foundation: the RPwD Act
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and its 2017 Rules require establishments to make their ICT — websites, apps, documents, and services — accessible, per standards notified by the government. The operative technical standards are:
- WCAG 2.1 (or the latest version) — the international benchmark;
- GIGW 3.0 — the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (2023), mandatory for government sites and aligned with WCAG;
- IS 17802 — the Bureau of Indian Standards' accessibility standard for ICT products and services (harmonized with EN 301 549 / WCAG).
The game-changer: SEBI's digital accessibility mandate
On July 31, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India issued a circular requiring every SEBI-regulated entity — stock exchanges, brokers, mutual funds, depositories, investment advisers, fintech platforms — to make investor-facing digital platforms accessible. The framework is unusually rigorous:
- Compliance with WCAG 2.1 (or latest), GIGW, and IS 17802;
- Accessibility audits by IAAP-accredited professionals, mandatorily including usability testing by persons with disabilities;
- A designated nodal officer, senior accountability, accessible grievance redressal, and annual audits thereafter;
- Accessibility weightage in procurement — vendors' products must be tested against the same standards;
- After extensions, audits and remediation must be complete by October 31, 2026, with ongoing compliance reporting after that.
The Reserve Bank of India has issued similar accessibility direction for the banking side, and government sites remain bound by GIGW — meaning finance, government, and everything that serves them are now regulated accessibility territory.
Who else should act
Beyond regulated entities, the RPwD Act's obligations and the Supreme Court's Article 21 ruling give accessibility complaints and PILs (public interest litigations) real force against consumer-facing businesses. Indian IT and SaaS exporters face the same pressure from the demand side: products sold into the U.S., EU, or Canada must satisfy Section 508, the European Accessibility Act, and the Accessible Canada Act.
Practical steps
- SEBI/RBI-regulated entities: if your audit and remediation are not complete, the October 31, 2026 deadline is the last stop — engage IAAP-certified auditors now and include usability testing by persons with disabilities;
- Audit against WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA + IS 17802, covering websites, mobile apps, and KYC/onboarding flows (sign language videos, captions, descriptive audio, and alt text are explicitly expected);
- Appoint your nodal officer and stand up an accessible grievance channel;
- Push accessibility clauses into vendor contracts — the responsibility stays with you;
- Build accessibility into development pipelines so annual audits become confirmations, not crises.
Peradeo's IAAP WAS-certified team audits and remediates platforms for clients in India and worldwide — see our accessibility services.
How Peradeo can help
Peradeo is a web accessibility company based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Our IAAP-certified specialists audit websites and web applications against WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 AA using real assistive technologies (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver), remediate the issues hands-on as developers, and prepare the compliance documentation — including VPAT® / Accessibility Conformance Reports and accessibility statements — that regulators and procurement teams ask for.
- Learn more about our web accessibility audit & remediation services
- Request a free accessibility check of your website
This article is provided for general information only and is not legal advice. Requirements change over time — consult a qualified lawyer for advice about your specific obligations.