India’s central financial institution mentioned Thursday it takes supervisory actions and imposes enterprise restrictions solely after “persistent non-compliance” with guidelines, its first remark after a clampdown on Paytm final week has posed existential questions on the way forward for the main monetary providers agency.

Shaktikanta Das, the Reserve Financial institution of India governor, mentioned the central financial institution all the time engages with regulated entities bilaterally and nudges them to take corrective motion. If the central financial institution takes actions, “it’s all the time proportionate to the gravity of the state of affairs,” mentioned Das, pictured above, in a media briefing.

“All our actions, being a accountable regulator, are in one of the best curiosity of systemic stability and safety of depositors’ or clients’ curiosity,” he added.

The Reserve Financial institution of India widened its curbs on Paytm’s Funds Financial institution, an affiliate entity of Paytm that processes transactions for the monetary providers group, barring it from providing many banking providers, together with accepting recent deposits and credit score transactions throughout its providers.

“That is supervisory motion for persistence non-compliance,” the RBI deputy governor Swaminathan J mentioned on the media briefing. “Such motion is invariably preceded by months and generally years of bilateral engagement the place we level out the deficiencies but additionally give time to take corrective motion. As a regulator, it’s incumbent upon us to guard the buyer,” he added.

Shares of Paytm declined by 10% Thursday, shrinking its market cap to $3.4 billion. Paytm, which went public with a market cap of about $20 billion in 2021, was buying and selling at $5.8 billion earlier than the RBI’s order final week.

A bunch of founders in India not too long ago wrote to the regulator and the Ministry of Finance, cautioning that the central financial institution’s motion can impede innovation. Das mentioned Thursday that the Reserve Financial institution of India will all the time “encourage and help innovation and know-how within the monetary sector.”

The Reserve Financial institution of India plans to remark extra on Paytm subsequent week, the officers mentioned. The central financial institution has weighed revoking Paytm Funds Financial institution’s license in latest days, TechCrunch first reported final week.

It has additionally weighed ordering a high administration shakeup at Paytm Funds Financial institution and eradicating among the firm officers from the financial institution unit, together with Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, based on three folks acquainted with the matter.