ETtech Opinion | Open Letter: The RBI and the fintech fallacy
By Bhavin Turakhia
The RBI's recent actions have generated a wave of passionate responses from the Indian fintech community. Through this open letter, I hope to share my personal observations and opinions on some of the challenges related to the fintech landscape in India and the role of the RBI.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteMITMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisitIIT DelhiIITD Certificate Programme in Data Science & Machine LearningVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitI have always held the position that RBI is one of the strongest regulators globally and is pro-consumer and anti-risk and not anti-startup. India boasts a very stable banking ecosystem and has seen far fewer bank failures when compared to some of the most developed nations globally. This is all thanks to the RBI prioritizing customer interest over anything else.
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Banking is a balance sheet business built on trust. It is not a tech business. While there is much that tech can do for a bank, it cannot change the fundamental characteristics of money management, lending, and borrowing. I have personally been very vocal about this and have strongly believed that the term fintech is a fallacy and a misnomer. My belief: you are either ‘fin’ or ‘tech’.
Banking is fundamentally about risk management. What is incorrectly being perceived as the RBI's heavy handedness against fintechs is in reality an opportunity for startups and tech founders to leverage tech to reduce risks,
