To address the issues and concerns of startups and fintechs, regulators must hold monthly meetings with such companies, and also lay emphasis on strict regulatory compliance, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.
Sitharaman passed the directions at a meeting with top executives of about 50 startups and fintech firms; the meeting was held amid the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) crackdown on Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL), the banking arm of One97 Communications-owned fintech major Paytm.
“Sitharaman exhorted the regulators, including RBI, that they may hold meetings via virtual mode once a month to discuss any questions/queries of the companies,” an official statement read.
From the private sector, representatives from Policybazar, MakyMyTrip, Razorpay, CRED, and PeakXV attended the deliberations.
Six action points finalised
According to the Economic Times, as many as six action points were put out after the meeting, which was also attended by State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Dinesh Khara, RBI deputy governor T Rabi Sankar, and officials from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), among others.
The action points include include simplification and digitisation of KYC (Know Your Customer) across all fintech segments, interaction with law enforcement agencies to facilitate firms to raise their issues or concerns, etc.
There are around 10,244 fintech entities in India, the third-largest in the world.
Paytm shares today
Meanwhile, One97 Communications Limited’s shares, which witnessed a 5% jump a day ago, rallied 5% on Tuesday as well. While the stocks climbed 4.99% to ₹449.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), those on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) rose 4.99% to ₹449.50.
This came a day after Sharma, the founder of One97 Communications Limited, stepped down as the part-time non-executive chairman and board member of Paytm Payments Bank, ahead of RBI’s March 15 deadline to PPBL to stop adding new customers.
Additionally, PPBL reconstituted its Board of Directors, with the appointment of ex-Central Bank of India chairman Srinivasan Sridhar, retired bureaucrat Debendranath Sarangi, former Executive Director of Bank of Baroda Ashok Kumar Garg, and ex-IAS officer Rajni Sekhri Sibal.
(Agency inputs included)