“Our neutrality is our license”: PFRDA Chairman warns against data misuse

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Sivasubramanian Ramann has cautioned consent managers against using personal financial data for commercial purposes, saying, “Data blindness is not a technical constraint we tolerate, it is the source of our authority.”

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Sivasubramanian Ramann has cautioned consent managers against using personal financial data for commercial purposes, saying, “Data blindness is not a technical constraint we tolerate; it is the source of our authority.” Addressing SamvAAd 2026, Ramann urged financial institutions and consent managers to resist commercial pressures to use customers' financial information for analytics, profiling and other purposes that could compromise privacy.

“Our neutrality is our license to operate. The day we compromise it, we are just another intermediary with a nicer interface. Data blindness is not a technical constraint we tolerate; it is the source of our authority,” he said. Ramann, who served as Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General and Chief Technology Officer in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India before becoming PFRDA Chairperson in 2025, also highlighted the importance of India's Account Aggregator (AA) framework in ensuring secure and consent-based financial data sharing.

Drawing on his experience in technology and financial regulation, he stressed that privacy must be protected through the design of digital systems rather than relying solely on commitments made in policy documents. “For decades data flowed on the institution's terms,” he said, adding, “The AA flipped the direction of permission. The citizen became the origin of that data flow.”

Explaining the significance of the framework, Ramann said its neutral architecture had helped build trust among financial institutions by enabling the exchange of information without intermediaries accessing the underlying data. He also highlighted the role of Sahamati in developing common standards and rules for the Account Aggregator ecosystem, allowing hundreds of financial institutions to exchange information without requiring separate bilateral agreements.

Ramann further recalled an interaction with a woman entrepreneur during his tenure at the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in 2021 to highlight the difficulties faced by small businesses in accessing formal credit. “To a lender, that lady is invisible, not because she is risky, but because she is undocumented. No collateral, no formal accounts, no credit file,” he said.

Ramann said the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), followed by the Account Aggregator framework, had enabled lenders to assess borrowers using financial transaction data shared with their consent. He noted that access to such information could help shift lending decisions from traditional collateral-based assessments towards cash-flow-based underwriting, improving credit access for small enterprises.

“Cash flow underwriting replaced collateral-based suspicion. That is financial inclusion,” he said. Emphasising the importance of customer control over personal information, Ramann said, “Consent is not an event. It is a relationship. You grant it, you should be able to see it, you should be able to change your mind. A consent that cannot be reviewed or withdrawn is just a permanent transfer with a polite name.” (ANI)