Draft Framework For Self-Regulatory Organization(s) In The Fintech Sector

India's fintech industry has experienced accelerated growth, driven by technology-enabled innovations in financial services. However, in the recent past, the sector has faced challenges in relation to the effective regulation of its diverse participants. While some entities operate under direct regulatory oversight, others remain inadequately regulated or unregulated, posing regulatory concerns around customer protection, cyber security, data privacy, and grievance handling. The RBI has intervened on several occasions in the recent past to tackle such concerns. For instance, in 2021, the card on file (CoF) tokenization norms were issued in light of instances of online fraud in response to concerns¹ in relation to misuse of debit and credit card details, restricting entities other than card networks and card issuers from storing card data. Similarly, in 2022, the digital lending guidelines were issued in response to concerns² around breach of data privacy, unethical