Blog

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 discusses RBI’s scale based regulatory framework for NBFCs. It explains the reasons behind RBI’s new approach and its impact on the fintech ecosystem. In October 2021, RBI notified scale-based regulations for NBFCs (which will kick-in on 1 October 2022). With these regulations, RBI aims to increase transparency (in NBFC operations) through greater disclosuresRead more

This post covers the creation of a new Fintech Department by the RBI. It examines the reasons behind setting up a dedicated department and identifies issues which the Fintech Department is likely to prioritise. In December 2021, PM Modi called for a fintech revolution in India. And just a month later, RBI took a keyRead more

This post discusses RBI’s concerns about Big Tech’s presence in financial services and its proposed regulatory approach. “In God we trust. In Big Tech we antitrust?” was one of our favourite stories from last year. It was about Big Tech’s tussle with US and Indian anti-trust laws. And concerns of anti-trust regulators around Big Tech’sRead more

This post analyses the trend of RBI imposing stricter penalties on banks, NBFCs and payment system operators for non-compliance with regulatory requirements. It lists major penalties levied by the RBI in the recent past and examines the impact of these penalties on financial service providers. “RBI is neither a hawk, nor a dove. But isRead more

This post analyses RBI’s framework for offline digital payments. It also traces the history of offline digital payments in India and highlights their benefits for users. ‘Offline digital payment’ sounds like an oxymoron. But with RBI’s framework for facilitating small value offline digital payments, it may become a mainstream payment option. Offline digital payments can beRead more

This blog post examines the evolution of the AA Framework, and its role in the India Stack ecosystem. Our earlier blog was a primer to the NBFC account aggregator framework (“AA Framework”). In this one we take a closer look at the evolution of the AA Framework. And its role in the India Stack ecosystem.Read more

This article summarizes the various issues discussed in our webinar on digital payments during COVID-19 with Mr. Arpit Ratan, Co-founder of Signzy. The webinar is available on YouTube. ———————————————— Introduction: On 01 May 2020, Aparajita Srivastava and Arpit Gupta from Ikigai Law held a webinar on ‘Digital payments: Threats and opportunities during the pandemic’. Mr.Read more

Most digital/IT related services have survived the negative economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, with a sharp drop in e-commerce and online travel and event booking transactions, the digital payments industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 lockdown in the last 2 months. UPI transactions decreased from 1.3 million in December 2019Read more

The Steering Committee on Fintech Related Issues (‘Committee’), set up by the Ministry of Finance, recently issued its report (‘Report’)[1], in which it takes stock of developments in the fintech space, globally and in India. It makes 45 recommendations to enable fintech, particularly in critical sectors of the economy, and to promote ‘ease of doingRead more