RBI to set up public repository of digital lending apps to help customers

It will help people find out of a digital lender has a relationship with a bank or NBFC

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is setting up a public repository of digital lending applications (DLAs) of regulated entities such as banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).

The repository will help customers verify associations between DLAs and regulated entities and is in response to fake digital lenders falsely claiming they have relationships with banks and NBFCs.

“The repository will be based on data submitted by the REs (without any intervention by RBI) directly to the repository and will get updated as and when the REs report the details, i.e., addition of new DLAs or deletion of any existing DLA,” said the RBI on Thursday. It will issue detailed instructions about DLA public repositories soon.

The RBI earlier set up financial technology (fintech) and emerging technology (emtech) repositories that would have aggregate sectoral level data, trends and analytics that can be utilised by policymakers and industries.

The fintech repository will record information about regulated and unregulated companies' activities, products, technology, and financial information.

The emtech repository will have information on regulated entities' adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and Cloud computing.

The two repositories are managed by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), a wholly owned subsidiary of the regulator.