New Delhi, March 5, 2018

In pursuance to the announcement made by the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley in his Budget Speech 2018-19 (Para 75), a Steering Committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance.

The objective of this committee is to consider various issues relating to development of fintech space in India with a view to make fintech related regulations more flexible and generate enhanced entrepreneurship in an area where India has distinctive comparative strengths vis-vis other emerging economies. The Steering Committee will also focus on how fintech can be leveraged to enhance financial inclusion of MSMEs.

The committee will be headed by Economic Affairs Secretary. The other members of the high level committee would include; Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Secretary, Financial Services, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Chairperson, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). Besides, the CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India and Deputy Governor of RBI would be part of this panel. Joint Secretary (Investment) in Economic Affairs Department would be the convener of the panel.

The Steering Committee may also invite participants from the private sector.

The Terms of Reference of the Steering Committee will be as follows:-

i. To take stock of the developments in the Fintech sector globally, and in India, and arrive at a common shared understanding of the current state of play;

ii. To analyse critically the regulatory regime spread over different entities that has impacted the growth of Fintech in India;

iii. To consider how Fintech can be leveraged in critical sectors of the economy, especially financing of MSMEs, affordable housing, delivery of e-services to vulnerable sections, provision of land record management and other government services, access and adoption of digital payments, and to study the developments in these areas;

iv. To develop regulatory interventions, e.g., regulatory sandbox model, that will enhance the role of Fintech in the sectors identified for focused interventions;

v. To promote ease of doing business in the Fintech sector;

vi. To consider means of using data with GSTN and data residing with information utilities such as Credit Information Companies (CICs),etc in open domain with a view to developing applications for financing of MSMEs.

vii. To work with Government agencies like UIDAI to explore creation and use of unique enterprise identification number;

viii. To consider international cooperation opportunities in Fintech with countries like Singapore, UK, China, etc.

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