RBI Forms Expert Committee : Establish Ethical AI Framework for Financial Sector

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up an eight-member expert committee to develop a framework for the ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector. The committee, chaired by Pushpak Bhattacharyya, a professor from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay, will work on creating a comprehensive, adaptable AI framework tailored for financial institutions.

The committee’s tasks include evaluating the current AI adoption in financial services both in India and globally, and reviewing regulatory and supervisory approaches, with a focus on the financial sector.

Additionally, the committee will identify potential risks related to AI and suggest strategies for risk evaluation, mitigation, monitoring, and compliance for financial entities such as banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), fintech firms, and payment system operators (PSOs).

The group will also develop governance guidelines for the responsible and ethical deployment of AI models and applications within India’s financial sector. Other members of the committee include Debjani Ghosh, independent director at the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub; Balaraman Ravindran, professor and head of the Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI at IIT Madras; Abhishek Singh, additional secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; Rahul Matthan, partner at Trilegal; Anjani Rathor, HDFC Bank’s group head and chief digital experience officer; Sree Hari Nagaralu, head of security AI research at Microsoft India (R&D); and Suvendu Pati, CGM at RBI’s FinTech Department. The committee is expected to submit its report within six months from its first meeting.