Indian regulatory authorities have introduced the framework for establishing a Fintech regulatory sandbox that will help local startups with experimenting or testing out their ideas in a live environment.
The Fintech sandbox program will allow established industry participants and startups to work cooperatively in order to develop solutions related to banking, capital markets and insurance services. The products and services will be used in a live environment with a few “real” customers for a certain time period (before potentially moving to the production or official launch stage).
The sandbox program will allow early-stage Fintechs to test their technology in an environment that’s also isolated from the live market but still based on “real” market-related data. The Fintech-focused sandbox will be managed by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), which was established by India’s government this year.
The IFSCA has been focused on setting up a state-of-the-art Fintech hub, which is located in an Indian “smart” city in Gandhinagar. The hub is called the Gujarat International Finance Tec (Gift) City. The newly launched sandbox will be operated within the IFSCA in Gift City.
As covered recently, Fintech firms in India are now considered a “critical constituent” of the nation’s financial services sector. India is now home to more than 2,000 Fintech companies and has become one of the world’s largest financial technology markets (after the US, China and UK), according to a report from McKinsey & Company that was released earlier this month.
As reported, Indian consumer lending Fintech ZestMoney will be offering affordable payment options to consumers buying Apple products.
Bengaluru based Fintech startup Walrus is launching a personalized debit card for teenagers to encourage better money management. Indian Pay Later solutions experienced a 50% year-over-year increase in equated monthly transactions during checkout on Amazon and Flipkart.
As reported last week, Pondicherry University in India will be introducing an MBA program in Financial Technology or Fintech.