Fintech Rules Must Keep Pace With Technology, Says RBI Deputy Governor

Global Fintech Fest 2026: Financial regulation has to balance the need for innovation along with safeguards to protect users as emerging technologies have begun reshaping financial services, RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain said at the Global Fintech Fest 2026.

Regulators Need Room To Experiment

Jain said that regulators need to take different approaches depending on how well the risks of a technology are understood. Clear safeguards can apply where risks are known while controlled testing can help policymakers assess newer applications, he added.

“Good policy should give innovation room to grow, while ensuring that accountability and resilience grow with it,” Jain said.

He has also stressed on the need for regular interaction with financial institutions, fintech companies and technology providers. He said such engagement can help regulators identify new use cases and emerging risks at an early stage and provide greater clarity on regulatory expectations.

Regulatory sandboxes have been highlighted as one way to test new applications within defined boundaries before wider adoption.

Jain also cautioned against setting rules either too early or too late.

“Regulate too early, and we risk writing detailed rules for a technology we do not yet fully understand, or for an architecture that may change before the rules take effect,” Jain said, adding that delayed intervention can leave risks embedded in the financial system before they are properly understood.

Multi-Currency Forex Added To Bharat Connect

Jain also announced the introduction of multi-currency capabilities for the forex category on Bharat Connect. The service has been soft-launched within a controlled user group (CUG), with wider availability proposed after the CUG phase has been assessed.

The platform, operated by NPCI Bharat BillPay, has been integrated with FX-Retail, operated by Clearcorp Dealing Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Clearing Corporation of India.

The expansion has added the euro, pound, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and the UAE dirham to the existing dollar offering. Customers can access foreign currency purchases, overseas remittances and forex card reloads through participating Bharat Connect channels.

The service has retained live rates and transparent pricing through FX-Retail, while fulfilment has been handled through customers’ relationship banks. Customers can also add multiple relationship banks to their forex retail profile and choose the bank for fulfilment. Forex transactions through Bharat Connect have crossed Rs 100 million in value between April and July 2026.

The multicurrency service has been available during the soft launch through channels including MobiKwik, BHIM, bob World, PNB, Federal Bank, SBI and Axis Bank. Participating fulfilment banks include PNB, SBI, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and Federal Bank.

Technology Must Serve Customers

Jain also focused on customer experience with expansion in financial technology. “There is always someone at the other end of the technology,” Jain said, referring to savers, borrowers, merchants and families that rely on financial services.

He said customers may not know which model has generated a recommendation or which technology has processed a transaction, but they do experience its outcome. “Their confidence in technology will ultimately depend not on how sophisticated it is, but on whether it works for them fairly, reliably, and safely,” he said.

Speed, Concentration And Opacity Are Risks

Jain identified purpose, prudence and policy as three imperatives for adopting artificial intelligence (AI), tokenisation, distributed ledger technology, and quantum computing.

He said lower costs, productivity gains, AI-assisted human judgment and data were key shifts in finance. Human creativity, empathy, ethics and purpose can work alongside AI’s speed and precision. “A solution, however, well-intentioned or technologically impressive, has little value if it does not address the problem that actually needs solving,” he added.

He also identified speed, concentration and opacity as key risks as technology adoption scaled, adding that financial institutions needed to detect problems early and intervene before small errors escalated.