• The first edition of the India Finance Report was published by the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL).

NBFCs are companies registered under the Companies Act 1956 which provide bank-like financial services but do not hold banking licenses.

• Its theme is “Connecting the Last Mile: Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in India”.

MAJOR FINDINGS

• It has taken stock of India’s non-bank financial companies sector — commonly called the shadow banking sector — and pointed out both the ongoing improvements and emerging risks.
• After the liquidity crisis of 2018 and the Covid pandemic, the NBFC sector has improved, along all dimensions — capital position, asset quality, and profitability.
• Monetary Policy Transmission through NBFCs is strong but delayed.
• UPI usage has exponentially increased since its inception in 2016, with its growth outpacing all other modes of digital payments.
  • A 10% increase in per capita UPI transactions usually leads to a 4.6 per cent rise in fintech lending and 1.5 per cent in lending by commercial banks.
  • There were over 8.68 billion transactions per month on the UPI network, with over 300 million unique users and close to 400 participating banks, as of March 2023

ABOUT UPI

• Launched in 2016, UPI allows an instant, real-time payment network and is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• The payment system is built as an “interoperable protocol”, which allows third-party vendors to build apps to provide payments as a service.

ABOUT CAFRAL

• CAFRAL is an independent body set up by the Reserve Bank of India in 2011.
• It is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes research in the finance, macroeconomics, and public policy.