FACE–Grant Thornton Bharat Fintech Barometer 2026; The report is based on a survey of 39 FACE member fintechs across lending, payments, regtech, collection-tech and techfins.
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, July 7, 2026: The third edition of the Fintech Barometer 2026, a joint study by the Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) and Grant Thornton Bharat, finds that India's fintech sector is entering a new phase where trust, governance and operational resilience are becoming as important as innovation in driving sustainable growth.
Vivek Iyer, Partner& Financial Services Risk Advisory Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat
The report is based on a survey of 39 FACE member fintechs across lending, payments, regtech, collection-tech and techfins. Participants assessed and ranked nine core risk areas while also sharing perspectives on sectoral challenges, operational experiences, innovations driving growth and recommendations for building a resilient and future-ready fintech ecosystem. Risk rankings are based on weighted average severity scores assigned by respondents on a scale of 1 to 10.
India's fintech ecosystem has become a critical pillar of the country's digital economy, powered by
digital public infrastructure such as UPI, Aadhaar, e-KYC and Account Aggregators. As adoption
deepens across consumers and businesses, the industry's most significant challenges are no longer
limited to innovation and scale, but increasingly centre on maintaining customer trust, strengthening
governance and building resilient institutions. Together, the findings suggest that the industry's
biggest challenges now lie beyond innovation and growth. As fintechs scale, long-term success will
increasingly depend on institutional credibility, effective risk management and the ability to sustain
customer trust.
Vivek Iyer, Partner& Financial Services Risk Advisory Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat said,
“Balancing profitability, growth and trust has become one of the key drivers for the fintech
ecosystem, which is the key message that the Fintech Barometer report reinforces. The fintech
ecosystem across the domains of payment, investment, credit and insurance has stronger revenue
and governance models than a decade ago, helping them walk the path of growth”.
Sugandh Saxena, CEO, FACE, said, “India’s FinTech sector is gradually becoming an integral part
of the financial landscape. Sustaining and deepening FinTech adoption across the financial
ecosystem and the economy requires FinTechs to earn trust by creating value and firmly addressing
risks as they emerge. This report is an industry speak on FinTechs’ own perception and ranking of
risks. A clear and common understanding of risks is the first step towards preparing for and
mitigating them, and driving individual and collective action. We hope this report will contribute in
that direction.”
Nearly 59% of respondents identified reputation and brand risk as a high-severity concern,
making it the highest-ranked risk in the study. The report notes that customer trust can be affected
by issues ranging from data breaches and cybersecurity incidents to misconduct by unauthorised
entities, making reputation an outcome of governance, compliance, customer experience and data
protection.
Interoperability and infrastructure risk emerged as the second-highest concern, with 51% of
respondents rating it as high severity. The findings reflect fintechs' growing dependence on digital
public infrastructure such as UPI and Aadhaar, while also expressing confidence in the continued
evolution and resilience of India's digital infrastructure ecosystem. With an average severity score of
6.9, market competition and conduct risk ranked third, reflecting pricing pressures, rapid
technological innovation and evolving customer expectations.
Data access, privacy and protection received an average severity score of 6.6, with 49% of
respondents classifying it as a high-severity risk. The findings highlight growing emphasis on
consent management, customer transparency and enterprise-wide data governance, making
effective data stewardship a strategic business priority. Cybersecurity, technology and business
continuity recorded an average score of 6.5, with 46% of respondents rating it as high severity,
reflecting continued investment in cyber resilience, fraud prevention and operational continuity.
The report also highlights the growing importance of regulatory and governance risk as fintechs
deepen partnerships with regulated financial institutions. Meanwhile, fraud, AML/CFT and financial
crime, along with macroeconomic and funding risk, were viewed as comparatively manageable
within the current operating environment, supported by regulatory interventions, improving fraud
controls and continued investor confidence in India's fintech sector.
AI/ML and model risk received the lowest average severity score of 5.8, reflecting the relatively
early stage of advanced AI adoption across the financial ecosystem. However, the report cautions
that AI-related governance, privacy, cybersecurity and model risks are likely to become significantly
more important as fintechs increasingly deploy AI across underwriting, fraud detection, customer
engagement and decision-making.
The report concludes that customer trust, governance and ecosystem collaboration will define the
next phase of India's fintech journey. As many of the sector's most significant risks extend beyond
the control of individual firms, strengthening ecosystem-wide standards and adopting integrated risk
management practices will be critical to supporting financial inclusion and sustainable long-term
growth.
