Finance Minister asks regulators to hold monthly meetings with startups and fintech firms to address concerns

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman, has asked regulators, including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to hold meetings every month to address questions and concerns of startups and fintech companies.

During a meeting with startup and fintech ecosystem entities in New Delhi, the minister placed emphasis on the importance of innovative solutions by the fintech firms to the financial services sector while ensuring strict compliance with regulations, the government's press statement said.

Sitharaman also welcomed suggestions from the fintech leaders to improve the ease of doing business and ease of living for consumers.

The Department of Financial Services (DFS) will be conducting a day-long workshop with law enforcement agencies where fintech firms can voice their concerns, the release said, adding that DFS will ensure simplification and digitisation of KYC (Know Your Customer) across all fintech segments.

In addition, the RBI, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), and the Ministry of Finance will look at the change of ownership holding/control of listed fintech companies to enable them to be in sync with regulatory compliance.

The interaction with the startup and fintech ecosystem partners was also attended by the Union Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, DFS Secretary Dr Vivek Joshi, DPIIT Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, among other senior officials, including from RBI and associations like Payment Council of India (PCI).

The developments come on the heels of RBI's direction in January to Payments Bank Ltd to stop accepting new deposits from February 29, 2024, due to "persistent non-compliances" and "continued material supervisory concerns". The deadline was later extended to March 15.