Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during an interaction with Start-Up and Fintech Entities, in New Delhi, on February 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman nudged India’s financial sector regulators to hold monthly meetings with fintechs to address their concerns and mooted a day-long workshop with law enforcement agencies for such firms to raise any issues they may be facing.
Moreover, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will work with the Ministry of Finance to examine issues relating to change of ownership holdings and control of listed fintech companies to enable them to be in sync with regulatory compliance requirements.
These were among the key action points that emerged after an interaction with India’s top fintech entities and the Payment Council of India chaired by the Minister on Monday, in the presence of top officials from the ministries of Finance, DPIIT and Electronics and IT, as well as the RBI.
Sources said that fintech entities and start-up founders appeared unfazed by the challenges facing the Paytm Payments Bank Limited and its parent entity. “No Paytm-related anxiety or concerns were shown by industry representatives at the meeting,” said an official aware of the deliberations.
While efforts to simplify and digitise Know Your Customer (KYC) norms across the fintech segments were mooted, the need to rationalise cost of funds for critical areas, including priority sector loans was also raised. DPIIT Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh informed that new patent examiners have been added to reduce the turn-around-time of patent applications. India has over 10,200 fintech entities.
“The Finance Minister noted the rapid growth of the Start-up and Fintech sector of India, especially in the last decade, and welcomed suggestions from the FinTech leaders to achieve greater Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living for consumers,” an official statement said, noting that issues relating to cybercrime will be suitably addressed in the new Digital India Act.