Account Aggregator Network Emerges as a Game-Changer After UPI: Insights from BG Mahesh, CEO, Sahamati

India’s Account Aggregator (AA) network is creating a significant impact in the financial sector, emerging as the next transformative digital infrastructure after the success of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). BG Mahesh, CEO of Sahamati—the industry alliance driving the AA ecosystem—shared comprehensive insights on how the AA framework is revolutionizing financial data sharing, fostering inclusion, and powering innovation across sectors as of September 2025.

 

Understanding the Account Aggregator Framework

The AA framework acts as a consent manager for secure, frictionless sharing of financial data across institutions without involving any money transactions. Similar to how UPI simplified payments by eliminating the need for account details for transfers, AA removes barriers in sharing a person’s or business’s financial data safely and efficiently with multiple financial service providers. This enables smoother processes for loans, insurance, investments, and wealth management. Unlike conventional methods where sharing financial statements involved cumbersome procedures, AA offers unified consent management that empowers individuals with full control and transparency over their data sharing decisions.

 

Remarkable Growth and Adoption

 

Since its formal launch in September 2021, the AA ecosystem has grown exponentially and crossed critical milestones in 2025.

 

Over 780 financial institutions have joined the AA network, making it a cornerstone of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure.

 

By June 2025, approximately 24.8 crore consent requests were fulfilled, with about 12.7 crore Indians actively using the facility.

 

The AA framework facilitated more than Rs 1.6 lakh crore worth of loan disbursements in FY 2025 alone, empowering underserved segments such as MSMEs, gig workers, and thin-file customers.

 

NBFCs dominate the lending landscape via AA, contributing around 60% of loans processed through this channel, while public sector banks currently account for less than 1%.

 

Key Highlights: Impacts and Benefits

 

Enhanced Customer Agency: Individuals gain unprecedented agency over their financial data, deciding whom to share it with, how much, and for what purpose.

 

Consent-Driven Growth: The AA framework enables faster loan approvals, reducing drop-off rates and expanding credit access beyond metropolitan areas to smaller cities and towns.

 

Seamless Integration: Financial institutions are embedding AA within core credit workflows, extending its use beyond onboarding to the entire credit lifecycle.

 

Data-Driven Innovation: AA fuels new opportunities across sectors, including wealth management, insurance, and hyper-personalized financial products, fostering a robust open finance ecosystem.

 

Security and Privacy: The system incorporates strong safeguards to prevent misuse of data, thereby building trust with customers and institutions alike.

 

Collaborative Ecosystem: Sahamati governs the AA ecosystem through participatory governance, ensuring stakeholders—financial institutions, technology providers, and regulators—collaborate effectively.

 

Challenges and the Road Ahead

While the AA ecosystem has moved beyond pilot phases into meaningful large-scale adoption, challenges remain, including the need for:

 

Increased on-ground staff to support MSME and secured credit segments.

 

Diversification of use cases beyond lending to realize the full potential of data empowerment.

 

Ongoing monitoring to prevent irregularities in repayments and strengthen financial discipline.

 

Sahamati’s Role and Vision

BG Mahesh emphasized Sahamati’s vital role in accelerating ecosystem readiness, improving technology infrastructure, and strengthening customer trust in the AA framework. The alliance is focused on:

 

Driving adoption across new sectors and segments, scaling growth beyond the current milestones.

 

Enhancing interoperability and secure data flow with initiatives like SahamatiNet and Sahamati Labs.

 

Laying the foundation for India’s leadership in open finance globally, harnessing data as a capital instrument for positive societal impact.

 

As India celebrates the 4th Foundation Day of the Account Aggregator framework this September, the momentum signals the start of a data-driven revolution aimed at financial inclusion, transparency, and innovation. This ecosystem promises to reshape how citizens and businesses access and leverage financial data, driving a new era of digital financial services built on consent, trust, and technology.

 

Source: The Indian Express and Sahamati’s official announcements