Government Sets Up Fintech Panel To Make Regulations More Flexible

The finance ministry has set up an eight-member committee to consider various issues related to financial technology or fintech for making regulations more flexible and promoting financial inclusion.

The panel headed by the Economic Affairs Secretary will also suggest ways to enhance entrepreneurship in the fintech space, where India has distinctive comparative strengths vis-a-vis other emerging economies, the finance ministry said in a statement issued today.

The Committee will also focus on how fintech can be leveraged to enhance financial inclusion of micro, small and medium enterprises, it said.

The other members of the high level committee would include, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Secretary, Financial Services Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Secretary, Chairperson Central Board of Excise and Customs.

Besides, the chief executive officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India and deputy governor of the RBI would be part of this panel.

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Joint Secretary (Investment) in Economic Affairs Department would be the convener of the panel which may also invite participants from the private sector.

The statement further said the panel would take stock of the developments in the fintech sector globally, and in India, and arrive at a common shared understanding of the current state of play and to promote ease of doing business in the sector.

It would also analyse critically the regulatory regime spread over different entities that has impacted the growth of Fintech in India and also consider international cooperation opportunities in the space with countries like Singapore, U.K., China, etc.

The panel will consider how fintech can be leveraged in critical sectors of the economy, especially financing of MSMEs, affordable housing, delivery of e-services to vulnerable sections, provision of land record management and other government services, access and adoption of digital payments, and to study the developments in these areas.

As per the terms of reference, the committee “will develop regulatory interventions, for example, regulatory sandbox model, that will enhance the role of fintech in the sectors identified for focused interventions.”

It will also consider means of using data with Goods and Services Tax Network and data residing with information utilities such as Credit Information Companies in open domain with a view to developing applications for financing of MSMEs, it said.