Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI) has appointed Jatinder Handoo as its CEO and Priyashmita Guha as its COO with immediate effects. The body has claimed that these appointments will help it to promote responsible lending and increase engagement with regulators and policymakers. 

DLAI has also inducted Alok Prasad, banker and former CEO of MFIN, and Meena Hemchandra, retired Executive Director,  Banking and Non-Banking Supervision, RBI and currently part-time Chairman, Karur Vysya Bank as members of its Governance Council. It will support higher governance standards amongst the DLAI members.  

The body was formed in 2016 by digital lending firms to support responsible and inclusive growth of the digital lending sector. It today has over 90 members which include regulated entities (REs), LSPs, TSPs and advisory firms. Till now, it has operated under the leadership of an elected body of President, vice-president, treasurer and executive Committee Chairpersons. The committees currently in operation are Policy, Communication, Knowledge, Membership and Events. Jatinder and Priyashmita will work in tandem with the committee Chairpersons.

It has stated in a statement that Handoo has close to two decades of experience in the financial services and public policy sector and was the vice president of the RBI-registered self-regulatory organisation, MFIN. He also worked at FINO, SBI and HDFC Bank. He was a student of Law and Regulation of Inclusive Finance at the University of Luxembourg and Fintech Regulations & Innovation at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.

Handoo will spearhead DLAI’s SRO application process and will be closely involved with the regulators and policymakers. His primary responsibility will be to ensure the representation of the viewpoints of the DLAI members at important forums. 

Guha, who has been part of DLAI since 2017, has been elevated to COO of the organisation. She has led various events including its flagship annual DLAI conclave. She has also pitched DLAI at various global platforms and transformed it to be a global entity now.

Sashank Rishyasringa, President and Founding Member, DLAI said, “The digital lending industry is reaching an inflection point in terms of scale and impact, which comes with important responsibilities and guardrails as well. Being a systemically important industry, we are cognizant of our duties towards our stakeholders and would like to strengthen our top management with credible and experienced professionals to steer the growth of DLAI, and our mission to drive innovation with a central ethos of responsible lending. On behalf of DLAI, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Jatinder and Priyashmita and wish them success in the future.”