NEW DELHI: The customer data shared with account aggregators (AA) is completely safe in India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.
Concerned over the slow movement of the AA scheme, the minister said, “It can be better, which means either the building of awareness exercises are not sufficient, adequate or there is a need for simplification of technology.”
Both public and private, have reviewed it and they have become a member or a part of this account aggregators working, and it has actually helped, she said at the ‘DATE with Tech’ event here. She stressed that the enthusiasm of the banks has to be accentuated, only then that the scheme will reach every customer.
Sitharaman also stressed the importance of prudent lending practices and adherence to core banking principles in the context of digital transformation. The statement comes in the backdrop of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cautioning non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and small finance banks (SFBs) against excessive lending. The RBI recently directed lenders to consider risks while pricing loans and raised risk weights for consumer and NBFC loans.
“The RBI has alerted NBFCs and SFBs to be careful so that they don’t go too far too soon and face downsides risks. We have been after state-owned banks to focus on their core business, their banking business, which is to collect deposits, and lend, and earn money out of lending, and giving more returns to people keeping their savings ,” Sitharaman said while addressing a press conference at Digital Acceleration & Transformation Expo 2023. This week, the apex bank had also increased risk weights for consumer and NBFC loans to limit the growth in unsecured loans.