RBI Forms Panel for Ethical AI Adoption in Financial Sector

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has established an eight-member committee to create a Framework for Responsible and Ethical Enablement of Artificial Intelligence (FREE-AI) in the financial sector. Announced on Thursday, the initiative aims to ensure the ethical and responsible integration of AI technologies across India’s financial ecosystem.

Committee’s Objectives and Tasks
Chaired by Pushpak Bhattacharyya, a distinguished professor at IIT Bombay, the panel will assess AI adoption levels in financial services globally and domestically. It will review international regulatory approaches, identify AI-related risks, and propose frameworks for their evaluation, mitigation, and compliance. The guidelines will cover banks, NBFCs, FinTechs, and other financial entities, focusing on governance and ethical AI implementation.

Panel Members and Timeline
The committee includes key industry and academic experts: Debjani Ghosh (RBI Innovation Hub), Balaraman Ravindran (IIT Madras), Abhishek Singh (MeitY), Rahul Matthan (Trilegal), Anjani Rathor (HDFC Bank), Sree Hari Nagaralu (Microsoft India), and Suvendu Pati (RBI FinTech Department). The committee will submit its recommendations within six months of its first meeting.

This initiative follows the December monetary policy meeting, underscoring RBI’s commitment to fostering innovation while safeguarding ethical practices in India’s rapidly evolving financial sector.