Digital upgrade of financial sector to onboard NRIs, FPIs

According to an official statement, the members also decided to strengthen inter-regulatory coordination for a broader financial sector. The council that comprises all finacial sector regulators also emphasised simplifying and digitising know-your-customer (KYC) processes and enabling digital onboarding for non-resident Indians (NRIs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). Given rising geopolitical headwinds and global uncertainty, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged the Council to hold FSDC meetings at more frequent intervals with a predefined schedule.

The FSDC, chaired by the Union Finance Minister, meets periodically as required to review macro-financial stability and regulatory coordination. Its 30th meeting, held on Friday, came nearly a year and a half after the 29th meeting held on June 10, 2025. “The FSDC took cognizance of the emerging trends from the domestic and global macro-financial situation and stressed the need to be vigilant especially in view of the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, AI boom and steep rise in global bond yields,” the finance ministry said.

The FSDC discussed ways to promote innovation and digital modernisation in the financial sector, including measures to encourage fintech development and explore the potential of tokenisation of financial assets and other real-world assets. The Council reviewed strategies to implement previous decisions and budget announcements such as strengthening the domestic investment ecosystem and improving the flow of resources for investment, including through GIFT-IFSC.

It also suggested advancing reforms to scale up digital public infrastructure (DPI), including the Account Aggregator and Unified Lending Interface (ULI) frameworks, with a specific focus on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Reducing financial intermediation costs, making regulations more responsive and rationalising credit guarantee schemes were also emphasised. Sitharaman also urged regulators and other stakeholders to expedite the refund of unclaimed financial assets to their rightful owners.

These include bank deposits, dividends, shares, post office accounts, insurance proceeds and pension funds. The Council acknowledged the progress made by stakeholders under the district-level “Your Money, Your Right” campaign to return unclaimed financial assets. It asked ministries and regulators to intensify their efforts to ensure timely refunds to beneficiaries. The FSDC also reviewed the cyber resilience of India's financial sector and took note of the Financial Sector Cyber Security Strategy (FSCSS), formulated by an Inter-Ministerial Group comprising financial sector regulators and cybersecurity agencies in coordination with the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Department of Financial Services (DFS) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).