The Reserve Bank of India has constituted the Committee on FREE-AI with the following composition:
| Sl | Name | Chairperson/member |
| i) | Dr. Pushpak Bhattacharyya, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay | Chairperson |
| ii) | Ms. Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, NITI Aayog; Independent Director, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub; and Ex-President, NASSCOM | Member |
| iii) | Dr. Balaraman Ravindran, Professor and Head, Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI, IIT Madras | Member |
| iv) | Shri Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India | Member |
| v) | Shri Rahul Matthan, Partner, Trilegal | Member |
| vi) | Shri Anjani Rathor, Group Head and Chief Digital Experience Officer, HDFC Bank Ltd. | Member |
| vii) | Shri Sree Hari Nagaralu, Head of Security AI Research, Microsoft India (R&D) | Member |
| viii) | Shri Suvendu Pati, CGM, FinTech Department, Reserve Bank of India | Member Secretary |
AMN / WEB DESK
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a high-level expert panel to develop a framework for the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector. The initiative was announced in the monetary policy statement on 6 December.
The committee will establish a governance framework to guide ethical AI adoption across banks, non-banks, fintechs, and payment system operators. It will also review regulatory and supervisory approaches to AI, with a specific focus on the financial sector, the RBI stated in a circular setting up the panel on Thursday.
The committee will be chaired by Professor Pushpak Bhattacharyya from IIT Bombay and brings together leading experts from academia, industry, and government.
Its key objectives are to assess the current state of AI adoption in financial services, both globally and domestically, and to review international regulatory and supervisory practices.
The panel will also identify risks associated with AI, propose mechanisms for risk evaluation and mitigation, and recommend a comprehensive governance framework for the ethical use of AI in the financial sector.
The panel members include Debjani Ghosh, a distinguished fellow at NITI Aayog and a former president of Nasscom; Balaraman Ravindran, who heads the Wadhwani School of Data Sciences and AI at IIT Madras; Abhishek Singh, additional secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and IT; Anjani Rathor, chief digital experience officer at HDFC Bank; Hari Nagaralu, who leads security AI research at Microsoft India; and Rahul Matthan, a partner at Trilegal.
Suvendu Pati, a chief general manager in the RBI’s fintech department, will provide secretarial support to the committee and serve as the member secretary.
The panel is expected to submit its report within six months of its first meeting.
The Terms of Reference of the Committee are as under:
(i) To assess the current level of adoption of AI in financial services, globally and in India.
(ii) To review regulatory and supervisory approaches on AI with focus on financial sector globally.
(iii) To identify potential risks associated with AI, if any and recommend an evaluation, mitigation and monitoring framework and consequent compliance requirements for financial institutions, including banks, NBFCs, FinTechs, PSOs, etc.
(iv) To recommend a framework including governance aspects for responsible, ethical adoption of AI models / applications in the Indian financial sector.
(v) Any other matter related to AI in the Indian financial sector.
The Committee will submit its report within six months from the date of its first meeting.