INSIDE THE RESERVE BANK'S UNIQUE INNOVATION HUB

The innovation centre is working on a digital public infrastructure that could change the way banks lend

- Gopika Gopakumar

Chaarmikha Nagalla, 24, believes in the power of bringing ideas to life. So when it came to choosing a career, this economics and computer science graduate from Chennai was clear she wanted a job where she could make an impact.

After cold mailing over a dozen people on LinkedIn every day, Nagalla got lucky with a job at the newly created Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) in Bengaluru. But she wasn't sure about the role.

An event on financial inclusion organized by the hub, where founders of fintech startups participated, firmed up her mind.

Fifteen months on, she is facilitating multiple such events for RBIH across India.

"If we can help bring someone's vision to life, there's nothing more fulfilling." said Nagalla.

This is the underlying mission of the innovation hub, set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's central bank.

Established on 24 March 2022, four years after Shaktikanta Das took charge as the RBI governor, RBIH started with the aim of bringing innovation to the financial sector, as well as boosting financial inclusion.

The idea was also to act as an interface between the central bank and fintechs.

The move was significant considering that RBI was not really viewed as a "friendly" institution by many fintechs at that point in time. Mint, in a story titled 'Why new-age fintechs fear death by a thousand circulars', narrated the tale of many companies that found themselves in the grip of new regulation; some were forced to pivot or slow down. RBI, on its part, was worried about data privacy, cyber security, unethical behaviour, lack of compliance and potential money laundering by the fintechs.

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