Will RBI’s recent regulations usher in a new era of digital lending in India
By Puja Sharma
According to the recent RBI Press Release “Recommendations of the Working Group on Digital Lending – Implementation”
In its statement, the RBI reiterated that Regulated Entities (REs) shall continue to conform to existing guidelines on outsourcing when entering into outsourcing arrangements with a Lending Service Provider (LSP) or Digital Lending App (DLA). This circular urges REs to ensure that the LSPs and DLAs engaged by them and their respective LSPs follow the guidelines contained therein.
The instructions contained in this circular will apply to both existing customers and new customers who get onboarded from the date of this circular. It is important, however, that REs are given time until November 30, 2022, to develop adequate systems and processes to ensure that existing digital loans (sanctioned at the time of this circular) are also in compliance with the guidelines in both spirit and letter.
Last month, In line with RBI tightening the rules for digital lending, the central bank in its public statement mentioned regulated entities must now ensure that loan servicing and repayments are executed directly into their bank accounts without using the pass-through or pool accounts of third parties. The borrower’s bank account must also be credited with the disbursements. RBI also said any fees or charges payable to lending service providers should be paid directly by the regulated entity and not by the borrower.
To regulate digital lending entities, RBI established a working group in January 2021. Lending business can only be conducted by entities regulated by the central bank or authorized to do so by any other law, according to the new guidelines. Lenders are prohibited from automatically increasing credit limits without borrowers’ consent under these rules, applicable only to RBI-regulated entities and lending service providers.
A variety of credit products were offered by FinTech companies through digital lending platforms, each tailored to the needs of a specific audience. Following the COVID-19 lockdowns, these platforms gained popularity quickly. They devised digital customer onboarding and loan disbursement processes using alternative data for credit assessment. Since only banks and licensed NBFCs had access to capital, fintech companies had to partner with these lenders to outsource customer acquisition, portfolio monitoring, and loan recovery.
According to the local media, Moneycontrol, due to unethical lending practices, and harsh recovery methods adopted by some digital lending platforms, the RBI has laid a clear emphasis on protecting digital lending borrowers. Regulatory measures, such as uniform disclosure formats for terms and conditions. The proposal should be adopted by all digital lenders, allowing customers to exit the loan arrangement within a specified timeframe, prohibiting hidden charges, mandating the appointment of nodal officers by both regulated lenders and digital lending platforms to deal with customer complaints, and promoting data minimisation norms that will boost customer confidence and trust.
It could severely restrict access to capital for FinTech companies designing new-age credit products and offering services to new-to-credit borrowers. Although the RBI intends to close any loopholes that may pose systemic risks to India’s financial ecosystem, the FLDG restriction may lead to the slow demise of many digital lending platforms. Financial inclusion would also be adversely affected by this since regulated lenders would be less motivated to provide support to new fintech companies without any skin in the game.
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