RBI Governor Urges Fintechs to Build for Inclusion and Prioritize Underserved Populations

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra recently called upon the emerging fintech ecosystem to prioritize underserved populations to enhance financial inclusion across society.

During his address at the annual Global Fintech Fest, Governor Malhotra acknowledged that serving privileged segments might be financially rewarding but emphasized the importance of focusing on underrepresented communities.

"Build for inclusion. While higher profits may come from deepening access to the haves and privileged, prioritize building systems that expand financial services to unaccessed, unreached, and underserved segments of society," he stated to the gathered fintech stakeholders.

The Governor further advised fintech companies to develop user-friendly products and services accessible to all, incorporating assistive technologies to ensure vulnerable groups including senior citizens, those with limited digital literacy, and differently-abled individuals aren't left behind in the digital financial revolution.

Malhotra stressed that Indian fintechs must prioritize trust and compliance by incorporating robust data protection measures, transparency, and consumer safeguards into their offerings.

The Indian fintech sector has seen remarkable growth, with companies now numbering 10,000 and collectively raising over USD 40 billion during the past decade, according to the former bureaucrat turned central banker.

Recognizing technology as a force multiplier for sustainable economic development, Malhotra praised fintechs for delivering affordable financial services at scale. He encouraged the ecosystem to leverage existing infrastructure to extend credit to small businesses and individuals.

Additionally, he suggested fintechs should focus on creating customer experiences so intuitive that customer service agents become unnecessary.

The Governor expressed concern about rising digital frauds, noting they represent a growing challenge for the Reserve Bank. He highlighted the MuleHunter solution developed by the central bank's division, which has demonstrated a 90% success rate in tracking fraudulent account networks used to swindle unsuspecting individuals.

Regarding the 17 operational account aggregators, Malhotra emphasized the need for integrating more financial information and adopting interoperability to increase effectiveness. He mentioned that RBI is developing standards to improve customer onboarding, enhance interfaces, strengthen data security, and raise awareness within the account aggregator framework.

Addressing India's unmet credit demand, he pointed to the recently launched unified lending interface as a potential solution through improved access, describing credit as the "lifeblood" of inclusive growth.

Malhotra revealed that RBI has conceptualized a "unified markets interface" as next-generation financial market infrastructure capable of tokenizing financial assets and facilitating settlements using wholesale CBDC (central bank digital currency).

In related news, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani announced that the 'Finternet' ecosystem would become operational in 2026, with growing participation. This initiative aims to create a unified platform for tokenizing assets like land, property, bonds, and financial investments.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched several innovations, including AI-based UPI HELP powered by Small Language Model for assistance with payments and dispute resolution, IoT payments with UPI for transactions from connected devices, 'banking connect' for interoperable net banking, and 'UPI Reserve Pay' allowing users to manage credit limits across merchant and UPI applications.