RBI seeks to regulate peer-to-peer platforms

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India for the first time proposed rules for peer-to-peer lending, seeking to regulate a growing sector with potential measures including requiring minimum capital of 20 million rupees ($301,023.48) or prohibiting them from promising "extraordinary returns."

The RBI also proposed on Thursday that only those defined as companies engage in peer-to-peer lending and said it may categorise firms in the growing sector as non-banking financial companies.

Peer-to-peer lending has been growing globally, including in India, where only a limited segment of the population has access to bank finance.

The central bank sought feedback to its proposals from the public by May 31.

For draft proposals see: http://bit.ly/2450Mzf

($1 = 66.4400 rupees)

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy and Suvashree Dey Choudhury; Editing by Rafael Nam)