India's first Fintech Forum will help weather market storm

HYDERABAD: The Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Andhra Pradesh formed India's first Fintech Forum to deepen engagement among stakeholders to face evolving challenges and find remedies in a technology fuelled, fast-changing market.

Financial technology firms, banks and finance firms, bourses, regulatory and government agencies, market intermediaries and support entities like law firms are members of the Fintech Forum.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu currently heads the chief ministers' committee on digital payments at the Centre.

"The Fintech Forum is a consortium to engage in issues that pertain to fintech players," said Manish Kumar, the convener of the forum. “It envisages becoming a healthy platform for discussion on these issues towards a commonly acceptable solution and standards that are mutually agreeable to the fintech industry players as well as the government, regulators and other financial services players."

Dozens of banks, financial institutions, exchanges, fintech companies, law firms and regulators showed interest while many have already joined the forum that will have two bases in Mumbai and Visakhapatnam, said Kumar.

Those who joined the Fintech Forum include the National Stock Exchange, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, IDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, DCB Bank, Care Ratings and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Kumar said.

Speaking to ET this week on the sidelines of the Blockchain Business Conference held in Visakhapatnam, Kumar said the forum was formed after realising the need for all the stakeholders to come together to develop common standards and guidelines that make the job of fintech players easier.