India · Certification
ISO 22301 certification in India
Achieve ISO 22301 certification in India with Sterling: 8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries, 20+ years.
- Accredited certification
- Mumbai office team
- Effivity software included
- Academy training included
Who asks for ISO 22301 in India
Clients include
ISO 22301 certification in India at a glance
IRDAI Information and Cyber Security Guidelines, 2023 refers to ISO 22301, yet none of the Indian instruments checked makes it compulsory. Buyers in India ask for it anyway.
Business continuity is written into Indian financial regulation more often than the standard itself. RBI's Master Direction on IT Governance has a chapter on business continuity and disaster recovery, and its IT outsourcing direction asks regulated entities to ensure continuity plans, including for the exit of a service provider, are in place and tested periodically. IRDAI's 2023 guidelines go a step further and recommend cloud service providers who are BS25999 or ISO 22301 certified. For BPOs, data centres and IT firms serving these institutions, an ISO 22301 business continuity management system is the structured answer to each due-diligence pack: business impact analysis, recovery objectives, tested plans and management review. Certification is granted by an accredited certification body; NABCB holds APAC recognition for business continuity management systems. Sterling delivers from its Navi Mumbai office and aligns the BCMS with the client's ISO 27001 controls where both exist, with Effivity and Sterling Academy included. Local route details and questions follow.
Who needs ISO 22301 in India, and what happens without it
In India the question rarely comes from a law. It comes from the buyer, the regulator or the partner that wants proof before it signs. These are the organisations that get asked.
- Banks, NBFCs and other RBI-regulated entitiesRBI's IT governance direction includes a business continuity and disaster recovery chapter.
- IT and BPO providers to banksRBI's IT outsourcing direction requires tested continuity plans covering provider exit.
- Cloud providers to insurersIRDAI recommends cloud service providers certified to BS25999 or ISO 22301.
- Data centres and service exportersCustomer contracts set recovery objectives that a BCMS evidences.
Not sure which of these applies to you?Answer a short set of questions and your readiness report arrives by e-mail.
Take the ISO 22301 readiness checkISO 22301 requirements in India
Strip away the vocabulary and ISO 22301 requires a company to prove six things about how it keeps operating when something goes wrong.
In India these six sit alongside the local laws and regulations listed under drivers below; one system can evidence both. The detail is on the global hub: ISO 22301 explained →
How to get ISO 22301 certified in India
One team from the Mumbai office carries the work from scoping to certificate. Across India from the Navi Mumbai office: on-site in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, on-site or remote for other states; remote delivery for distributed teams.
- Discovery call and scopeEntities, locations, regulators and target date, agreed before any proposal.
- Gap assessment against ISO 22301 and the Indian requirements that apply to youControls you already run for your regulators and customers are reused, not rebuilt.
- Your system built with your team in EffivityRisks, controls, evidence, incidents and reviews in one live system the auditor can see.
- Internal audit, management review and corrective actionsYour internal auditors trained by Sterling; the evidence proven before the certification body arrives.
- Certification body stage 1 and stage 2, then surveillanceAn accredited body audits and decides. Sterling supports the audits and the three-year cycle.
- End to end, from one team
- Effivity ISO & GRC software
- Preferential Sterling Academy access, with complimentary awareness training for your people
- Internal auditor training for your audit team, as applicable to your standard
- Vulnerability assessment on ISMS engagements
The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements.Sterling does not certify. Certification decisions stay with independent bodies.
How long does ISO 22301 certification take in India?
There is no standard duration: it depends on your scope and on how much of the system already runs. In India these are the factors that set the timeline.
- Number of sites and critical services in scope
- Business impact analysis and recovery objectives agreed with customers
- Exercise programme run before stage 2
- Certification body scheduling around festival holidays
Sterling agrees a dated plan with you on the discovery call, once the scope is known.
How much does ISO 22301 certification cost in India?
The cost has two parts: the consulting work to build and prove the system, and the certification body’s audit fees, which are quoted separately. In India these factors move both.
- Number of critical activities and sites
- Certification body audit fees quoted separately from consulting
- Alternate site and recovery arrangements needed
- Integration with an existing ISO 27001 ISMS
Sterling gives one customised, all-inclusive proposal after the discovery call, never before the scope is agreed.
ISO 22301 consultants and certification bodies in India
Two different organisations are involved. A consultant helps you build the system and prove it works; an accredited certification body then audits or assesses it and decides. Keeping the two separate is what makes the result credible to buyers and regulators.
- Check that the body’s accreditation or approval covers ISO 22301 and your sector, and that its certificates can be verified online.
- Ask the consultant how the local requirements in India are mapped into the same system, so nothing runs twice.
- Ask for client references in your sector; Sterling’s client letters are available on request.
- Agree who owns the evidence and the tool after the engagement; with Sterling the system stays yours, in Effivity.
Laws and regulations that drive ISO 22301 in India (4)
| Instrument | How it treats the standard |
|---|---|
| IRDAI Information and Cyber Security Guidelines, 2023 | Refers to / expects Recommends cloud service providers who are BS25999 or ISO 22301 certified. |
| RBI Master Direction on Information Technology Governance, Risk, Controls and Assurance Practices (RBI/2023-24/107) | Expected in practice Business continuity and disaster recovery management; no standard cited. |
| RBI Master Direction on Outsourcing of Information Technology Services (RBI/2023-24/102) | Expected in practice Continuity plans including exit of a provider, tested periodically; no standard cited. |
| NABCB APAC MRA certificate — Business Continuity Management Systems (ISO 22301) sub-scope | Accreditation NABCB is an APAC MRA signatory for BCMS. |
"Expected in practice" means the instrument asks for the outcomes ISO 22301 covers without naming a standard, and ISO 22301 is what buyers and regulators commonly accept as evidence of them.
Accreditation, audit language and remote audits in India
Use a certification body accredited for this standard by NABCB or by another accreditation body within the international mutual recognition arrangements (Global ACI — Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated, formerly the IAF MLA); check that the accreditation scope covers the standard and your sector. No body is named here unless its accreditation scope has been verified. Edition and transition details: ISO 22301 hub →
Audit language
English audits are the norm; agree interviews in Hindi or the state language, any interpreter and the document language with the certification body at application.
Remote and on-site
Remote audit elements are at the certification body's discretion under its accreditation rules; operational sites are normally visited on-site.
ISO 22301 in India: questions clients ask
Do Indian regulators require ISO 22301?
Not by name. IRDAI's guidelines recommend cloud service providers that are BS25999 or ISO 22301 certified. RBI's IT governance and IT outsourcing directions require business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements but cite no standard. Ask your regulator or client what evidence they accept.
Can ISO 22301 and ISO 27001 share one system?
Yes. They share a common management-system structure, and continuity controls overlap with information security, so one system can serve both. Many organisations run a single internal audit and management review across the two, with the certification body assessing each standard on its own terms.
Which accreditation should the certification body hold?
Look for accreditation covering business continuity management systems. NABCB is a signatory to the APAC arrangement for that scope. Confirm that your certification body's scope covers ISO 22301 and your sector, since that check is yours to make before you sign.
More on ISO 22301 for Indian organisations
Other standards Indian businesses ask Sterling for
Organisations in India often combine ISO 22301 with one of these, under one management system where the scopes allow.
Start with a free discovery call from the Mumbai office
A Sterling consultant goes through your entities, your regulators and your target date with you. No proposal until the scope is agreed.
Sources
- IRDAI Information and Cyber Security Guidelines, 2023 — irdai.gov.in (accessed 5 Oct 2026)
- RBI Master Direction on Information Technology Governance, Risk, Controls and Assurance Practices (RBI/2023-24/107) — rbi.org.in (accessed 5 Oct 2026)
- RBI Master Direction on Outsourcing of Information Technology Services (RBI/2023-24/102) — rbi.org.in (accessed 5 Oct 2026)
- NABCB APAC MRA certificate — Business Continuity Management Systems (ISO 22301) sub-scope — nabcb.qci.org.in (accessed 5 Oct 2026)
- National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) — nabcb.qci.org.in (accessed 5 Oct 2026)
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