Industry body to lobby regulators for use of tech to speed up loans

MUMBAI: Financial technology companies, banks, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms and insurance companies are coming together to lobby hard with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other regulators to allow increased use of technology for faster loan disbursement and easier onboarding of customers.

These entities have come together under the umbrella of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), an industry body representing all internet-based service providers and digital payments companies.

Acceptance of e-signatures, mobile number-based customer identity verification, e-KYC (know your customer) are a few of the areas where lending institu tions along with tech nology platforms in the finance sector want more clarity from the regulators. IAMAI is an industry body, which represents all companies that provide services through the internet, including all the digital payments companies such as Itz Cash and Oxigen.

"As all the financial players are moving on to the internet space, IAMAI has decided to form subcommittees to include these players within our fold and arrange for discussions around business development and regulatory issues," said Gaurav Chopra, executive director, IAMAI.

Representatives from various industries, including banks, insurance companies, fintech players and peerto-peer lending platforms met on Wednesday in Mumbai to discuss the modalities about forming these committees and deciding on the issues around which they will be working.

Technology companies are adopting innovative means to reduce cost of operations and make it easier to apply for financial products, which will be a big boost for fintech companies.