Govt strengthens fintech ecosystem with regulatory frameworks: Minister
New Delhi, July 20
The government and the Reserve Bank of India have strengthened India's fintech Ecosystem through regulatory and consumer‑protection measures, including digital lending platforms and payment aggregators, it was announced on Monday.
The measures range from a self‑regulatory framework for fintech to strengthened digital‑personal‑data protections, AI-based fraud detection & and national cybercrime reporting mechanisms, MoS Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
The government has been constantly engaging with the financial sector regulators and other concerned stakeholders to review the issues related to the fintech ecosystem including digital lending platforms and payment aggregators in the country, he said.
Based on such assessments, various regulatory and supervisory interventions have been taken including a "Framework for Self‑Regulatory Organisation(s) in the FinTech Sector" by the Reserve Bank of India issued on May 30, 2024.
It establishes regulatory standards, promotes ethical conduct, resolves disputes and fosters transparency among members, the minister said.
Further, RBI has issued Master Directions on Digital Payment Security Controls in February, 2021 to combat web and mobile app threats. These guidelines mandate the banks to implement a common minimum standard of security controls for various payment channels like internet, mobile banking, card payment etc.
National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) provides a fraud monitoring solution to all the banks to generate alerts and decline transactions by using Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) based models for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has notified the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) and DPDP Rules 2025 to protect personal data of individuals.
RBI has introduced an enabling framework for Regulatory Sandbox in August 2019 which allows testing of new innovative financial products or services in a controlled regulatory environment with or without regulatory relaxation.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has launched the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal and a National Cyber Crime Helpline number "1930" for safeguarding the interests of consumers and facilitating citizens to report cyber incidents, including illegal loan apps.
The banks through the public facing platform 'SACHET' portal and the State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) enable citizens to launch complaints regarding deposit or collection of money illegally.
— IANS
Reader Comments
The DPDP Act and AI-based fraud detection sound good on paper, but let's see how well they're enforced. Banks still have terrible customer service when it comes to cyber fraud. Also, UPI transactions are already so smooth in India—just hope these regulations don't slow things down. 📱
As someone working in fintech, this is a balanced approach. Self-regulatory organizations will help maintain innovation while ensuring consumer protection. The Regulatory Sandbox framework from 2019 has already helped many startups launch safely. Good to see the ecosystem maturing. 🇮🇳
These measures are necessary but a bit late. Many people already lost money to scam lending apps. What about compensation for victims? Also, smaller fintechs will struggle to comply with all these rules. Hope there's support for them too. Still, better late than never. 🤔
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