The 2001 Bhuj earthquake has confirmed that the Indian multi-storey reinforced concrete buildings with open ground storey are highly vulnerable to strong seismic ground motions. Urgent measures of seismic strengthening are required to seismically upgrade the large stock of such existing buildings. A number of prescriptive techniques for retrofitting these buildings are being suggested by various interest groups. But, a formal quantitative approach is necessary to this effort of seismic retrofitting. This paper outlines the available methods for quantifying the effectiveness of proposed measures. These methods have been arrived at from a conceptual standpoint and applied in practice to real projects. The prevalent professional environment of the country urgently needs to seek this formal approach for seismic retrofit of most existing RC buildings.