This paper presents an online instantaneous torque control technique for switched reluctance machines called direct instantaneous torque control. The method comprises two novel aspects. First, torque is estimated as a function of terminal quantities, i.e., flux linkage and phase current. Hence, torque estimation is independent of the rotor position. Secondly, high-bandwidth drive performance is obtained by implementing a digital torque hysteresis controller. Thus, the method works without torque profile functions and auxiliary phase commutating strategies. Therefore, the control algorithm offers a wide drive operating range without the use of a high-resolution shaft position sensor or sensitive position estimation techniques. Experimental and simulation results are presented in this paper.