Sahamati serves as an alliance and coordination body for the AA ecosystem and will now operate as a self-regulatory body tasked with establishing operational and technical standards, enhancing interoperability, and managing dispute resolution among involved parties.
The Account Aggregator framework is an integral part of India’s Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA), enabling individuals and businesses to share their financial data with consent across regulated entities. This system is in progress across banking, insurance, securities, and pension sectors, with regulatory oversight from entities such as the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, and PFRDA.
Current data indicates that the AA network encompasses over 1,100 regulated financial entities, including Financial Information Providers (FIPs) and Financial Information Users (FIUs), as well as several operational Account Aggregators. It has enabled hundreds of millions of consent-based data requests and account linking, facilitating applications in lending, insurance, wealth management, and personal finance.
Within the SRO framework, Sahamati is also tasked with coordinating ecosystem-wide standards and enhancing compliance practices among participants as the AA system continues to grow.
The RBI has emphasized that the SRO mechanism aims to foster responsible innovation, enhance transparency, and bolster trust in the consent-driven data-sharing infrastructure.
R Gandhi, Chairman of Sahamati and former Deputy Governor of the RBI, noted that this recognition would strengthen institutional mechanisms for maintaining standards and accountability as financial data sharing evolves.
B G Mahesh, Chief Executive Officer of Sahamati, remarked that this initiative reflects the necessity for structured governance as digital financial systems become increasingly interconnected and expand across various sectors.
This development coincides with the continued growth of the Account Aggregator framework’s adoption in financial services, with a notable increase in its integration into digital lending and financial management use cases.
