The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recognised Sahamati Foundation as the Self-Regulatory Organisation (SRO) for India’s account aggregator (AA) ecosystem.

As an AA SRO, Sahamati will act as a neutral institution tasked with creating operational and technical standards, maintaining ecosystem discipline, facilitating dispute resolution, and supporting technical interoperability. It will essentially create formal, industry-led mechanisms to oversee governance and coordinate across the ecosystem. 

Sahamati, backed by Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani and led by CEO BG Mahesh, was launched in 2019 as a non-profit body to promote the account aggregator ecosystem. It raised a ₹50 Cr funding round from over 30 financial sector players including SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Capital, Bajaj Finserv, Zerodha, Dhan, and others earlier this year. 

The approval comes over a year after the apex bank began inviting applications for recognition as SRO for the AA ecosystem.

Here are five key requirements set by the RBI for a body to be recognised as an SRO:

• Must Be A Not-For-Profit Entity: The applicant must be registered as a Section 8 NPA company under the Companies Act, 2013. 


• Minimum Net Worth Of ₹2 Cr: The entity must achieve and maintain a minimum net worth of ₹2 Cr within one year of recognition or before starting operations. 


• No Dominant Shareholder Allowed: Shareholding must be diversified, with no single entity holding 10% or more stake, directly or indirectly. 


• Balanced Ecosystem Representation Mandatory: The SRO-AA must represent NBFC-AAs, FIPs and FI-Us, and maintain at least 25 unique entities each from FIPs and FI-Us as members at all times. 


• Independent Governance Structure Required: At least one-third of the board, including the chairperson, must be independent directors with no active association with AA ecosystem participants.

For context, account aggregators allow stakeholders within the BFSI industry to piece together financial information from multiple sources. They enable consent-based data sharing between regulated financial service providers for use cases like underwriting, loan collection, fraud checks, etc. 

The RBI currently recognises 17 operational account aggregators. Furthermore, the ecosystem also includes over 1,120 live regulated financial entities, 176 financial information providers (FIPs), and 1,020 financial information users (FIUs). 

The AA network, introduced in 2016, was developed through collaboration among major financial regulators including the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, and PFRDA. Currently, it facilitates over 29 Cr monthly data shares across lending, insurance, and wealth management, and has linked more than 29.4 Cr accounts. 

“The establishment of an SRO introduces an important layer of institutional trust for the ecosystem. It creates a mechanism through which industry participants can collectively uphold standards, strengthen responsible market conduct, and ensure that the ecosystem evolves in a manner that remains secure, interoperable, and consumer-centric,” Sahamati’s Chairman and former RBI Deputy Governor Rama Subramaniam Gandhi said. 

In parallel, the RBI had also issued the framework for setting up Section-8 companies to act as SROs to bring accountability and standardisation within the rapidly expanding fintech sector. Under this framework, it set out the broad functions, eligibility criteria, and characteristics for SROs, including mandating a grievance redressal mechanism for members and a non-discriminatory fee structure among other guidelines. 

Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) was the first SRO to be recognised by the regulator in August 2024. Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC), Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India (FIMMDA), and Self-Regulated PSO Association (SRPA) were also given the SRO status later on. 

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