NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue guidelines on a regulatory sandbox for the fintech sector within the next two months, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday, adding that he would be meeting heads of payments banks later this week to understand their concerns.
“A ‘regulatory sandbox’ would benefit fintech companies by way of reduced time to launch innovative products at a lower cost. Going forward, RBI will set up a regulatory sandbox, for which guidelines will be issued in the next two months,” Das said. He was speaking here at a fintech event organised by the Niti Aayog.
A regulatory sandbox is a framework set up by a regulator that allows start-ups to conduct live experiments in a controlled environment under supervision.
The RBI’s working group on fintech and digital banking, in November 2017, had suggested the introduction of a regulatory sandbox or innovation hub within a well-defined space and duration to enable experiments with fintech solutions, where the consequences of failure can be contained and reasons for failure analysed.
Das went on to point out that so far, seven payment banks have commenced operations and that RBI was looking to enhance financial inclusion through fintech. “To deepen digital payments and enhance financial inclusion through fintech, the RBI has also appointed a five-member committee under the chairmanship of Nandan Nilekani,” Das said.
The RBI governor later also met Union finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
“Largely, it was a courtesy call. They discussed the liquidity situation and general economic environment. The RBI governor said liquidity situation of the economy is comfortable and the rupee-dollar swap windows will further boost it by `35,000 crore,” a government official said.