Inside the Reserve Bank of India’s fintech sandbox

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Editor's note: Fintech, along with edtech, is perhaps one of the most popular startup categories with investors in India at the moment. Over the past five to six years, the rise of first digital wallets then UPI apps, as well as digital lending, insurance, investments and the steep increase in digital payments both online and in person, have driven change in a closely monitored and regulated industry. The flow of money, credit and financial products in general is something that governments and policymakers fret about constantly. The credo “Move fast and break things” is something respectable fintech entrepreneurs tiptoe around. As fintech adoption grows, boosted in no small part by the COVID-19 pandemic, regulatory scrutiny is greater than ever before. Disruption of conventional financial services companies or even replacing them by offering superior experiences is hard to achieve without policy changes—or risking a regulatory grey area. The one big regulator for fintech is the Reserve Bank of India, with its remit covering everything on banking, payments and lending. (The Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority …