A set of questions about the purpose and form of the National Financial Information Registry. In this year’s budget speech, the Finance Minister announced plans to create the National Financial Information Registry (Registry). The Registry, according to the minister, would be a ‘credit public infrastructure’ meant to promote financial inclusion and stability. It’s unclear how, though. TheRead more
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A post-mortem on MeitY’s mass blocking of digital lending apps. On 5 February, a tweet from a public broadcaster announcing the blocking of 94 digital lending apps raised a furore within the fintech industry. In the following week, lending apps were banned and unbanned – both without much clarity. A quick backstory: In September 2022, the RBIRead more
An analysis of key fintech regulations which govern data, the patterns they reveal, and the best practices that fintechs can adopt to ensure compliance. For the last 5 years, data lawyers have been like the boy who cried wolf. The data bill is always being tabled “in the next session of Parliament”. We’ve seen explainers,Read more
A list of what fintech players want from regulators in 2023 including clarity on FLDG, transparency in NBFC licensing, neobanking licenses, tax relief, priority sector classification, UPI incentives share, and new KYC solutions. 2022 was a tumultuous year for fintech. One dotted by regulatory rebukes and restrictions coupled with a funding winter. Here’s what theRead more
The best stories of 2022 from our monthly fintech newsletter, FinTales. February 2022: The Hassleocracy of Crypto-taxes “Cryptos have no underlying assets, not even a tulip.” –Shaktikanta Das Ouch. That’s the RBI Governor, not mincing his words. Like everyone else, we’ve pored over the Budget announcements on crypto-assets. The euphoria in the crypto-verse was short-lived.Read more
In this article, we take a road-trip to understand the RBI digital lending guidelines’ requirements relating to fund flow and pass-through accounts. And explore two key issues: where can money go to and where can money go through? Pass-through accounts are common in digital lending arrangements. Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) products typically involve five parties: (1) aRead more
This article walks-through the impact of the RBI’s digital lending guidelines on users and fintech businesses. “In a diverse market like India, key is to match right-priced borrower risk to investor/lender risk” -Fintech Founder (State of India Fintech Union 2022) Matchmaking. That’s what Indian fintech does best. Matching the right borrower with the right lender.Read more
The RBI wants digital lenders to follow ethical AI standards. But what does this mean in practice? In this article, we explore how digital lenders can adopt ethical AI standards before hardline regulation causes business disruption. “In our early days at Upstart, we couldn’t know for certain whether our model would be biased. It wasn’tRead more
This post analyses the implications of RBI allowing unregulated entities to access credit bureau data. It explains the history of data sharing between regulated entities and fintech players. And highlights the benefits and risks of providing fintech players access to credit bureau data. Digital lending is a data play. The better a lender knows itsRead more
This post analyses the impact of the RBI Working Group’s Report on Digital Lending Apps. It covers key recommendations made by the Working Group relating to credit-risk sharing, data privacy and security, artificial intelligence and buy-now-pay-later products. Regulation of digital lending in India now seems imminent. The RBI has been questioning buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) providers aboutRead more