Message from the CEO
As we strive to build a stable and growing economy, it is imperative that we bring women into the fold of mainstream finance. Women represent a significant half of our population, and it is our responsibility to ensure that they have equal access to financial services. In line with this goal, and on the eve of International Women’s Day, we at RBIH hosted our first-ever event, ‘Swanari* program that seeks to enable ‘Frictionless Finance for Every Woman in India’. The event brought together industry leaders, ecosystem stakeholders, and women entrepreneurs, who deliberated and evaluated possibilities in the world of finance for women. The insights and learnings from this event were truly invaluable. The Swanari event is a significant step in our journey towards a more inclusive financial system. I am confident that with continued efforts, we can create impact at scale and build an economy that is inclusive, resilient, and growth-bound.
In this context, our latest edition focuses on highlights from our Swanari event, even as we bring you the latest from the world of fintech. Read on, and stay updated!
Regards,
Rajesh Bansal
Message from the CEO
As we strive to build a stable and growing economy, it is imperative that we bring women into the fold of mainstream finance. Women represent a significant half of our population, and it is our responsibility to ensure that they have equal access to financial services. In line with this goal, and on the eve of International Women’s Day, we at RBIH hosted our first-ever event, ‘Swanari* program that seeks to enable ‘Frictionless Finance for Every Woman in India’. The event brought together industry leaders, ecosystem stakeholders, and women entrepreneurs, who deliberated and evaluated possibilities in the world of finance for women. The insights and learnings from this event were truly invaluable. The Swanari event is a significant step in our journey towards a more inclusive financial system. I am confident that with continued efforts, we can create impact at scale and build an economy that is inclusive, resilient, and growth-bound.
In this context, our latest edition focuses on highlights from our Swanari event, even as we bring you the latest from the world of fintech. Read on, and stay updated!
Regards,
Rajesh Bansal
The FinTech Revolution in India – Innovation, Inclusion and Regulation
The Deputy Governor (DG) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shri M K Jain, recently gave a speech at a virtual conference jointly organised by the Indian Institute of Management (IM), Ahmedabad and the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL) on ‘Innovation, Inclusion, and Regulation’ in the Fintech revolution in India. He acknowledged the symbiotic collaboration that has evolved between traditional banking and emerging fintech companies in the last decade. He went on to bring to the fore significant risks faced by various stakeholders in the fintech ecosystem:
Regulated entities or new entrants face legal, reputational, governance, and operational risks in addition to the conventional credit, market, and liquidity risks, depending on the business model
Customers face the risk of mis-selling, discrimination, data privacy and cyber security
Regulators face risks associated with financial stability, market integrity and customer protection.
He urged fintechs to bridge the credit gap that exists due to various reasons such as the absence of credit scores, cumbersome documentation, and manual processes by leveraging alternative data and end-to-end digitalisation coupled with other technology interventions. He also outlined three fundamental principles that fintechs should follow from a consumer protection perspective-creating customer-centric products, ensuring that the products are suitable for customers and avoiding imprudent lending practices. Additionally, fintechs should address any inherent biases in their models in a fair and just manner.
The DG concluded his address by underscoring that with our own pilot project going operational, India is well-placed to steer the discussion on the need for cross-border interoperability of CDCs and developing standards for effective interfacing in attaining cheaper, efficient and faster cross-border payments.
Launch of ‘Har Payment Digital’ Mission
Coinciding with RBI’s Department of Payment and Settlement Systems’ (DPSS) 18th anniversary, RBI Governor Shri Shaktikanta Das launched Digital Payments Awareness Week (DPAW) 2023. The mission, whose message “Digital Payment Apnao, Auron ko bhi Sikhao” (adopt digital payments and teach others as well), aims at reinforcing ease and convenience, and onboarding new consumers into the digital fold. Banks and non-bank system operators are working to highlight available digital payment channels, with the objective of further encouraging its adoption across the country.
This objective was further reinforced when the Governor also addressed the first Payment System Operators’ (PSO) Conference organised by DPSS in Kochi, India. He highlighted that Indian payment systems have been globally recognised as best-in-class and future-ready, and emphasised on ‘E-Payments for Everyone, Everywhere, Everytime’ (4Es) – the core theme of RBI’s Payments Vision 2025.
Shri Shaktikanta Das conferred with ‘Governor of the Year’ Award!
Central Banking, an international banking publication, awarded RBI’s Shri Shaktikanta Das with the prestigious ‘Governor of the Year 2023’ award. The citation commended Shri Das for being instrumental in implementing crucial reforms, innovative payment systems, and growth-oriented measures during very challenging times including the pandemic, the Ukraine war, and inflation among others. Given Shri Das’ leadership during a time of crisis and his significant contributions to India’s economic reforms, he was conferred with the coveted Governor of the Year award by the publication. The detailed write-up of the award citation is available here.
RBI-Central Bank of UAE Come Together to Foster Innovation
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration and foster innovation in financial products and services. The cooperation will primarily focus on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), with an emphasis on exploring interoperability between the CBDCs of the two countries. As part of this joint effort, both institutions will work together to conduct Proof-of-Concept (PoC) and pilot projects for a bilateral CBDC bridge. The aim is to facilitate cross-border CBDC transactions, specifically for remittances and trade. By testing cross-border use cases for CBDCs, the project is expected to reduce costs, enhance the efficiency of cross-border transactions and further strengthen economic ties between India and the UAE.
Moreover, the MoU also provides for technical collaboration and knowledge sharing on fintech and financial products and services.
Project In Focus:
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we hosted our first-ever Swanari (स्वनारी) program – the theme of which is to enable ‘Frictionless Finance for Every Woman in India’.
In the past decade, India has made unprecedented progress on various fronts in financial inclusion. While the gender gap in bank account coverage is now closed, more nuanced data reveals a different picture. For instance, more women tend to have inactive bank accounts than men, fewer women save within their bank accounts, women are much less likely to make and receive digital payments and women entrepreneurs continue to face a very high degree of friction in accessing quality financial services.
Nearly 135 participants from various sectors including BFSI, fintech, agritech, research, consulting, and funding & VC community, came together to deliberate on these issues with the objective of enhancing financial inclusion for women across the length and breadth of India. The attendees ranged from CXOs and senior leaders of established firms, to early-stage fintech start-ups working on various aspects of access, usage and quality of financial services for women. It was heartening to note that nearly 70% of the participants were women.
At the event, our CEO, Mr Rajesh Bansal launched the Swanari Roadmap document – a vision document outlining three distinct focus areas for the program namely:
DATA
Publish more insights through gender-disaggregated data on various facets of financial inclusion across access, usage and quality of savings, credit and digital financial services for women and women entrepreneurs.
DESIGN
Utilise this data to tackle poor adoption of financial services by designing financial products, processes, technology and digital solutions for women and women entrepreneurs from all socio-economic backgrounds. RBIH’s Swanari Techsprint 2022 was a significant step in this direction, where 7 startups and technology service providers were identified for innovative solutions that could address some of the existing gaps.
DEMONSTRATE
Enable on-the-ground initiative roll-out and scale-up to demonstrate the viability of gendered design thinking across products, processes and policy in closing the financial exclusion gaps for women and women entrepreneurs. Swanari aims to do this by rolling out relevant pilot programs in partnership with Banks, other financial institutions and fintechs, disseminating findings across the ecosystem and sharing learnings with RBI to enable future policy and program design.
Project In Focus:
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we hosted our first-ever Swanari (स्वनारी) program – the theme of which is to enable ‘Frictionless Finance for Every Woman in India’.
In the past decade, India has made unprecedented progress on various fronts in financial inclusion. While the gender gap in bank account coverage is now closed, more nuanced data reveals a different picture. For instance, more women tend to have inactive bank accounts than men, fewer women save within their bank accounts, women are much less likely to make and receive digital payments and women entrepreneurs continue to face a very high degree of friction in accessing quality financial services.
Nearly 135 participants from various sectors including BFSI, fintech, agritech, research, consulting, and funding & VC community, came together to deliberate on these issues with the objective of enhancing financial inclusion for women across the length and breadth of India. The attendees ranged from CXOs and senior leaders of established firms, to early-stage fintech start-ups working on various aspects of access, usage and quality of financial services for women. It was heartening to note that nearly 70% of the participants were women.
At the event, our CEO, Mr Rajesh Bansal launched the Swanari Roadmap document – a vision document outlining three distinct focus areas for the program namely:
DATA
Publish more insights through gender-disaggregated data on various facets of financial inclusion across access, usage and quality of savings, credit and digital financial services for women and women entrepreneurs.
DESIGN
Utilise this data to tackle poor adoption of financial services by designing financial products, processes, technology and digital solutions for women and women entrepreneurs from all socio-economic backgrounds. RBIH’s Swanari Techsprint 2022 was a significant step in this direction, where 7 startups and technology service providers were identified for innovative solutions that could address some of the existing gaps.
DEMONSTRATE
Enable on-the-ground initiative roll-out and scale-up to demonstrate the viability of gendered design thinking across products, processes and policy in closing the financial exclusion gaps for women and women entrepreneurs. Swanari aims to do this by rolling out relevant pilot programs in partnership with Banks, other financial institutions and fintechs, disseminating findings across the ecosystem and sharing learnings with RBI to enable future policy and program design.
Swanari Projects
The Swanari event saw the launch of 3 new projects that aim at furthering women’s usage of digital financial services while utilising frugal behavioural and technological innovation to provide frictionless financial services to the last mile.
A Behavioural Approach to Bridging the Digital Payments Divide
We collaborated with PhonePe and Aravind Mills to empower female migrant workers in a significant garment hub in Bengaluru. According to research, while most women possess smartphones, many still have reservations about using UPI for transferring remittances to their families, preferring instead to rely on banking agents. Our first program aimed at identifying and addressing the concerns that prevent women from utilising these services, through appropriate training. The session helped women understand and acknowledge the benefits of making UPI payments – both from functional and monetary perspectives. A short video created during one of these workshops captures the potential for impact at scale. Encouraged by the success of this pilot, we intend to scale this program across different locations and fintech partners, based on emerging requirements.
Digitalising Loan Disbursements Under the PM-SVANidhi Scheme
Street vendors are a critical constituent of the Indian urban economy. Given the hardships they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government launched the PM SVANidhi scheme to provide working capital loans to street vendors, helping them resume business. With over 41% of street vendors being women, we at RBIH undertook to digitalise the credit flow process to ensure impact at scale. Through this program, we digitised the end-to-end loan journey, bringing down TAT to just a few hours. To conduct the pilot for this project, we partnered with Makspay – a technology provider – and AU Small Finance Bank (SFB) in Jaipur, Rajasthan. This video captures the seamless flow of credit made possible through our end-to-end digitisation program. Currently, we are looking to scale this program by partnering with banks that are active in the PM SVANidhi scheme, making finance accessible to women street vendors across India.
A Frictionless Savings Product for Women by Women
Studies show that there is a significant divide between men and women when it comes to savings. Be it saving in informal channels or using a bank account, women rank lower than men on several such counts. To address this issue, we launched a frictionless savings product in partnership with PayNearBy, leveraging ‘Digital Naaris’ or on-ground women financial agents. This program aims to build an ecosystem that promotes inclusivity and equity for all women enabled by women in their own communities. We also aim to collect data and insights to better understand how women interact with emerging digital financial services, including usage, service types, frequency, and key demographics. This documentation will help us identify key operational and behavioural learnings for future innovations and product enhancements. The PayNearBy Women Financial Index (PWFI), built in association with RBIH, has engaging insights on financial consumption by women at retail stores.
