The use of personal data by government and private service providers in their interactions with individuals is becoming ubiquitous in India. Service providers are able to collect and process larger volumes and richer varieties of personal data, such as from utilities payments, social media and e-commerce purchase histories. Advanced analytics can provide insights from this data to expand product design and improve financial service delivery.
These advances can greatly improve efficiency and reduce costs when delivering services to harder-to-reach users. However, the pervasive nature of data processing has also raised serious concerns regarding privacy, exclusion due to digital service failure and related harms. These issues have special relevance for finance, given the increasing digitisation of the sector and the growing use of non-financial information to support the delivery of financial services.
In this background, we have compiled a primer on pertinent concerns regarding the use of consumer data in finance. In this primer, we set out the notable developments in data protection in finance and identify some emerging concerns in relation to the use of personal data in financial services. We conclude by identifying some considerations for regulators in this context.
(This primer is created to support the discussions of the panel on consumer data regulation at the 4th Dvara Research Conference on Regulating Data-driven Finance. The discussants for the panel include Justice B.N. Srikrishna (Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India), Dr. Katherine Kemp (UNSW) and Mr. Alok Mittal (Indifi Technologies).
The primers for the conference are designed to give sufficient context to the discussions and provoke further conversation, rather than act as stand-alone research notes. The full agenda for the conference is available here. Read more about the research themes and motivations for the conference here. Following completion of the conference, proceedings and related documents will be available here.)
