Fintechs urged to innovate, comply: DFS Secy

New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju on Tuesday urged fintech companies to consistently deliver innovative solutions to the financial services industry while adhering to strict regulatory compliance.

The meeting, chaired by the secretary, with partners from the startup and fintech ecosystem, was designed to foster an open exchange of ideas aimed at elevating the fintech sector to a global standard.

During the meeting, he said the government has taken up various initiatives to create an enabling environment for the fintechs.

"It was noted that Aadhar, UPI, and AePS, among others, have acted as enablers for Fintech sectors. Similarly, regulatory sandbox, fintech repository, SRO framework for fintech, etc have facilitated the fintech ecosystem in India," the finance ministry said in a statement.

The RBI also informed that various initiatives have been taken at their end, including developing an emerging tech and Fintech Repository for capturing baseline information in a secured and confidential manner and launching a Unified Lending Interface (ULI).

The central bank has urged NBFCs to onboard on the ULI platform, conducting regular interactions with the fintech ecosystem and also working on video-based KYC projects in their regulatory sandbox framework, the statement said.

Observing the rapid growth of India's startup and fintech sector, especially in the last ten years, Nagaraju said the digital payment infrastructure plays a crucial role in the fintech industry's expansion.

He emphasised the need to improve digital payment systems in rural and northeast regions, particularly through UPI, and to encourage lending based on digital footprints for MSMEs.