Fintech Engagement by RBI

Interaction is part of the ongoing engagement of RBI with the payments and fintech ecosystem. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra met with fintech firms, payment system operators, and self regulatory organizations to emphasize responsible innovation and compliance. This recognition has been given by RBI for a very crucial importance that fintechs play in the overall financial ecosystem and economy in India, like payment systems, account aggregators, and digital lending service providers.

Key discussion Points

• Strengthening the digital public infrastructure.
• Developing a unified lending interface similar to UPI.
• Expansion of use cases for central bank digital currency (CBDC).
• It has also been discussing fraudulent transactions and mule accounts.

Finquery Portal & CBDC Initiatives

• RBI launched the Finquery portal for direct engagement with fintech for promoting transparency, innovation, and regulatory clarity.
• CBDC Use Cases
  • Bank of Baroda modeled a small merchant loyalty program on CBDC for banks.

Clarifications on Regulatory Actions

• RBI reaffirmed its commitment to innovation and clarified that the regulatory actions taken recently were addressed to non compliance in critical areas and not against innovation.
• The discussions saw participation from the Deputy Governors M. Rajeshwar Rao, T Rabi Sankar, Swaminathan J., and executive directors.

New RBI Executive Director: Ajit Joshi

• Appointment: Ajit Joshi as Executive Director, RBI.
• Will supervise:
  • Department of Statistics and Information Management.
  • Financial Stability Department.

Source: BS