India’s fintech sector is increasingly focusing on trust, governance, and resilience, with a significant number of firms ranking reputation and brand risk as their top concern, according to a report by Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) and Grant Thornton Bharat. The report highlighted that reputation risk was followed closely by interoperability and infrastructure risk. Issues such as data breaches, cybersecurity incidents, and misconduct by unauthorized entities can impact customer trust, making reputation a product of governance, compliance, customer experience, and data protection.
The report also emphasized the growing reliance of fintech companies on digital public infrastructure like UPI and Aadhaar, showing confidence in India’s digital infrastructure ecosystem’s ongoing evolution and resilience. Market competition and conduct risk were identified as the third most significant risks, with an average severity score of 6.9, followed by data access, privacy, and protection at 6.6, and cybersecurity, technology, and business continuity at 6.5.
Risk rankings were determined based on weighted average severity scores provided by respondents on a scale of 1 to 10. The report underscored the increasing focus on consent management, customer transparency, and enterprise-wide data governance, making effective data stewardship a crucial business priority for fintech companies. Vivek Iyer, Partner & Financial Services Risk Advisory Leader at Grant Thornton Bharat, highlighted the importance of balancing profitability, growth, and trust in driving the fintech ecosystem forward.
Nearly half of the respondents rated cyber and continuity risks as high severity, indicating ongoing investments in cyber resilience, fraud prevention, and operational continuity. On the other hand, fraud, AML/CFT, financial crime, and macroeconomic and funding risks were perceived as more manageable within the current operational landscape, supported by regulatory measures, enhanced fraud controls, and sustained investor confidence in India’s fintech sector. The report was based on a survey of 39 FACE member fintechs operating in lending, payments, regtech, collection-tech, and techfins.
