Policymakers at the RBI’s SAMVAD 2026 seminar called for stronger safeguards as AI, non-bank finance, cyber threats and global tensions increase the speed and scale of financial shocks.
India’s central bank used its SAMVAD 2026 seminar in New Delhi to warn that the global financial system is becoming more vulnerable as geopolitical tensions rise and artificial intelligence spreads through markets and payments. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s posts on X, the two-day event brought together policymakers and experts to examine how innovation can be managed without weakening financial stability. The discussions also reflected a broader shift in thinking: risks are no longer seen as confined to banks alone, but as system-wide threats that can also emerge from non-bank lenders and other financial firms.
RBI Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta said financial stability has now become a policy goal in its own right, with attention moving beyond individual institutions to the wider financial system, including non-banking entities. The Tribune reported that participants at the seminar said financial shocks are arriving more quickly and with greater force, and that regulators must stay alert to pressures linked to climate change, fintech firms, AI agents and geopolitical fragmentation.
Former RBI governor Shaktikanta Das warned that prolonged conflicts and a more fragmented world economy are tightening financial conditions and increasing stress on sovereign debt. He also cautioned that AI could create new vulnerabilities if valuations prove overstretched or profitability remains uncertain. According to the reports on the seminar, Das called for stronger financial institutions, more substantial buffers and tighter supervision as technology reshapes markets. The RBI governor, Sanjay Malhotra, has separately flagged elevated global debt, stretched asset prices, high leverage, private credit exposure and cyber threats amplified by AI as five major risks to financial stability.
India’s economic officials sought to underline the country’s relative resilience. Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur said India is facing the global environment from a position of macroeconomic stability, supported by a credible fiscal path and flexible inflation targeting. The National Press reported that other speakers said India’s broader challenge is to preserve that strength while guarding against the spillovers from outside shocks. Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran also argued that financial inclusion can support income growth and opportunity, but only if it goes beyond access to active use and genuine economic empowerment.
Payment systems formed another major part of the discussion. The RBI said delegates examined the future of digital payments, including the challenges posed by AI-driven transactions and cross-border systems, and stressed the need for access, affordability, security, speed, convenience and interoperability. They also highlighted common standards for cross-border payments, stronger safeguards against financial crime and wider access to domestic payment rails. The seminar, held on October 19 and 20, opened with remarks from Governor Sanjay Malhotra and a keynote address by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, according to the RBI.
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