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India's consumer protection watchdog has significantly broadened its crackdown on "dark patterns," issuing a sweeping advisory to over 50 online platforms, including not just e-commerce behemoths but also popular streaming services, travel aggregators, food delivery apps, ride-hailing firms, meditech startups, and fintech companies. The directive mandates these platforms to eliminate deceptive design practices and conduct comprehensive self-audits within three months.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) sent the pointed advisory on June 5, referencing ongoing instances of dark pattern usage despite existing guidelines and even previous notices issued in some cases. A key focus of the advisory is Rule 4(9) of the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, which clearly states that consumer consent for purchases must be obtained explicitly, thereby prohibiting automatic recording via pre-ticked checkboxes or similar manipulative mechanisms.

Dark patterns refer to deceptive or manipulative design elements in websites or mobile applications that trick users into taking actions they might not have intended, such as making an unwitting purchase, subscribing to a service, or sharing personal data. Common examples include false urgency, basket sneaking (adding unselected items to a cart), confirm shaming (using guilt to nudge decisions), and subscription traps (making cancellations difficult).

According to Business Standard, Flipkart has responded to the CCPA's move, stating that the company welcomes the emphasis on fostering online consumer confidence. "At Flipkart, our commitment to develop & run an open, transparent, technology-driven marketplace focused on our customers is in complete sync with the government's focus," the company affirmed, adding that it constantly assesses and self-audits to ensure compliance.

However, not all platforms have readily embraced the directive. One unnamed platform acknowledged the advisory but controversially argued that the dark pattern guidelines are not legally binding. It also suggested that such practices are not industry-wide issues, but rather design experiments aimed at boosting engagement and sales, as per the report by Business Standard. 

As the three-month deadline looms, the onus is now on these diverse online platforms to scrutinize their interfaces and ensure transparency and fairness in their user experiences.

Read More:<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/digital/ccpa-warns-e-comm-firms-over-dark-patterns-self-audit-within-3-months-69249.htm" rel="noopener" target="_blank">CCPA warns e-comm firms over “dark patterns”; self-audit within 3 months</a>

CCPA 'Dark Patterns' warning: Advisory goes out to streamers, fintechs in addition to e-commerce firms

Cricket legend Virendra Sehwag has invested $5,00,000 (Rs 4.17 crore) in Jaipur-based fintech startup Getepay. "I am thrilled to be onboard Getepay and be a part of their digital innovation journey. We at Getepay are building digital offerings, especially for Bharat, which has excited me to be part of this journey. I am sure we will take this to maximum merchants in the coming days and enable cost-effective solutions for the merchants," Sehwag, also the brand ambassador of Getepay said. The company told Storyboard18 that Sehwag will also lend his voice to some IVRS of the brand.

Getepay has raised over $4 million from several investors, including Mahavir Pratap Sharma, Hyderabad Angels, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, DBR Ventures LLP, and Yogesh Chaudhary. The company currently works with over 1.5 million merchants and more than 150 banks across almost every state in India.

Getepay plans to expand its payment and digital services to its existing merchant base and aims to reach 2.5 million merchants by 2025. The company has also intended to expand internationally, with advanced plans underway.

Virendra Sehwag invests $5,00,000 in fintech startup Getepay

In recent years, fintech has emerged as a transformative force within the global financial services sector, reshaping traditional banking and payment systems through innovation and digitalization. From Silicon Valley USA to Bangalore, startups are leveraging technology to offer seamless financial solutions, challenging established norms and creating new market opportunities. However, amidst this disruptive growth, navigating the complex regulatory landscapes remains a critical challenge for venture capital firms (VCs) looking to invest in fintech startups across borders.

Fintech's Disruptive Impact on Global and Indian Financial Services

The rise of fintech has been a paradigm shift, democratizing access to financial services, enhancing efficiency, and driving financial inclusion. In India, home to a burgeoning fintech ecosystem, innovations such as digital payments, peer-to-peer lending, and robo-advisory services have rapidly gained traction, reshaping how consumers and businesses interact with money.

Regulatory Challenges in a Borderless, Digital-First Industry

Unlike traditional financial institutions, fintech operates in a borderless digital realm, posing unique regulatory challenges. Issues like anti-money laundering (AML), know-your-customer (KYC) norms, data privacy, outsourcing, and consumer protection are critical concerns that vary significantly across jurisdictions. The rapid pace of technological advancement often outstrips regulatory frameworks, leaving gaps that can be exploited by bad actors and necessitating agile regulatory responses.

Importance of Robust Compliance for VC Firms Investing Across Jurisdictions

For VC firms eyeing investments in fintech startups, robust compliance is not just a legal obligation but a strategic imperative. The regulatory landscape is dynamic and often unpredictable, requiring VCs to stay ahead of developments to mitigate risks and ensure the long-term viability of their investments.

Indian Regulatory Landscape

In India, regulators like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) play a pivotal role in overseeing fintech activities. Recent actions such as those involving Paytm and IIFL underscore the regulatory scrutiny faced by fintech firms. Key regulations encompass AML, KYC norms, data localization mandates, and evolving frameworks for digital banking licenses and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).

Global Regulatory Terrain

Beyond India, navigating the global regulatory terrain is equally complex. Regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the United States, and diverse data localization laws across Asia-Pacific create a patchwork of compliance requirements. VCs must navigate these variations while ensuring startups can scale across borders seamlessly.

Due Diligence: Assessing Compliance Readiness

Before investing, VCs conduct rigorous due diligence to assess a startup's compliance framework. This involves scrutinizing data security measures, evaluating cross-border data transfer protocols, and assessing the startup's regulatory track record across jurisdictions. A strong compliance culture within the startup is crucial for long-term sustainability and investor confidence.

Building a Robust Compliance Infrastructure

Investing in regulatory technology (RegTech) solutions can streamline multi-jurisdictional compliance efforts. Moreover, assembling a skilled compliance team with both local and global expertise is essential. Fostering an ethical, compliance-focused organizational culture from the outset helps startups embed compliance into their operational DNA.

Navigating Cross-Border Expansions and Investments

Expanding across borders requires a nuanced understanding of local regulatory nuances, licensing requirements, and market-specific barriers. VCs play a crucial role in helping startups adapt their compliance programs to new jurisdictions, leveraging partnerships with local advisors and industry associations to navigate complex regulatory landscapes.

Managing Multi-Jurisdictional Compliance

Efficiently managing compliance across multiple jurisdictions involves harmonizing processes and ensuring consistent data standards while addressing cross-border issues such as data transfers, tax implications, and intellectual property protection. This approach not only mitigates risks but also fosters operational resilience in a globalized fintech landscape.

Regulatory Advocacy and Engagement

Active engagement in policy discussions with regulators is essential for shaping fintech-friendly regulatory frameworks. By collaborating with policymakers in India and key global markets, VCs can influence regulations that promote innovation while safeguarding consumer interests and maintaining market integrity.


As fintech startups mature, ensuring compliance readiness becomes crucial for successful exits through IPOs, acquisitions, or cross-border transactions. VCs must anticipate potential regulatory hurdles or investigations globally and maintain a solid compliance track record to uphold investor confidence and maximize exit opportunities. In conclusion, compliance is not merely a regulatory burden but a competitive advantage in the global fintech landscape. VCs have a pivotal role in guiding startups towards responsible growth across borders by balancing innovation with regulatory adherence. By investing in robust compliance infrastructures, advocating for fintech-friendly regulations, and fostering ethical business practices, VCs can navigate the complexities of regulatory landscapes and support sustainable fintech innovation worldwide. This approach not only mitigates risks but also contributes to a resilient and trusted fintech ecosystem for the future.

Pratekk Agarwaal is the Founder & General Partner at GrowthCap Ventures. Views expressed are personal.

Beyond borders, beyond bureaucracy: The VC's playbook for fintech compliance

On February 26, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman met the representatives of the fintech companies in Delhi. The meeting, which comes in the wake of the Jan 31 clampdown by RBI on the banking operations of Paytm Payments Bank, saw Sitharaman suggest that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hold monthly meetings with fintech companies and startups through the mode of video conferencing. 


The meeting, which was attended by RBI deputy governor T Rabi Sankar, SBI chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, and officials from the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), among others, saw Sitharaman release six action points, as per a Moneycontrol report. 


The six action points stressed on the simplification and digitization of KYC (Know Your Customer) processes across all fintech sectors. This also included facilitation of interactions between fintech firms and law enforcement agencies to address concerns or issues. 


The meeting touched upon the challenges and opportunities in the fintech industry, concerns surrounding cybersecurity, compliance with KYC regulations etc. Another point raised during the discussion also involved dual listing of foreign equities of fintech companies.


Read More: <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/fm-nirmal-sitharaman-rbi-deputy-governor-and-top-officials-to-meet-fintech-heads-23755.htm">FM Nirmal Sitharaman, RBI deputy governor and top officials to meet fintech heads</a>

FM Nirmala Sitharaman: RBI should hold regular meetings with fintech companies

Digital debt financing platform CredAvenue’s brand revamp as Yubi ties well with its goal of going beyond being a credit-only platform into its international expansion to markets such as West Asia and North Africa.

Founded in 2020, Yubi facilitates debt financing for companies by connecting lenders and investors with borrowers through an online marketplace. Its offerings include term lending and working capital solutions, co-lending partnerships for banks and NBFCs, bond issuance and investment for institutional and retail participants, trade financing solutions and end-to-end securitisation and portfolio buyouts.

The Chennai-based fintech startup entered the unicorn club in just 18 months after raising around $137 million in its Series B funding. Flush with funds, the company is looking to create awareness about availability of hassle-free credit and new verticals (investment/real estate) that it intends to launch.

In an exclusive conversation with Storyboard18, Karanpreet Bindra, Yubi’s chief marketing officer, breaks down the objective behind the brand revamp. According to him, the company is looking at a large global category that can’t be contained in CredAvenue, which was a functional name.

“Our intent or ambition is to be the invisible layer covering the entire credit and debt ecosystem in the world. CredAvenue is not going to do justice to our ambition because our goal is much wider than just providing credit,” he says.

Bindra says that Yubi aims to facilitate all sorts of credit transactions right from connecting a borrower and lender, which happens to be the marketplace side of things (and what CredAvenue sounds like), ensuring smooth digitised execution on the platform itself, monitoring the journey end-to-end, and enabling connections for that loan.

Why Yubi?

So, what does Yubi mean and how did the company arrive at the new name?

Yubi means being ubiquitous, Bindra tells us. It’s like water, air or even the internet, which is out there all around you and powering life. "We wish to be that ubiquitous layer that’s the origin of Yubi, which is short for ubiquity. I think the other one is that we have a strong fundamental belief in the power of humans in doing great things and that’s where the tagline comes from."

"We believe in the fundamental right of access to capital and the potential of humans. We stand for leveraging human potential – You be – so you be at your best, which is the other inspiration for the brand name,” he explains.

Many TGs and eleven marketing plans

Yubi works with various target audiences (TGs). In the marketplace model, the company has lenders (banks/NBFCs) and borrowers (enterprises, which can have as little as Rs 10 crore annual revenue / taking a loan against property, to a unicorn or Rs 10,000 crore listed organisation looking to raise debt).

“We cater to almost six TG sets within the borrower ecosystem and three segments around the lender ecosystem. We work with two broad categories: B2B and B2B2C. For instance it can be a firm like CRED or payment app Slice, which are our customers; although they are dealing with the end customers we are powering their transactions," Bindra says.

The company will soon build and launch a B2C vertical focussed on investment products.

"We are like a single mother brand catering to almost eight different sub-brands,” Bindra notes.

For each of these sub-brands, the company has an individual marketing budget and campaign as well as a marketing strategy.

“As a group CMO, I’m working on 11 marketing plans, including the mother brand," says Bindra. He draws a comparison to an iconic global brand: "With Yubi, we have done the umbrella or mother branding similar to what FedEx does."

But all of Yubi's sub-brands will also have individual marketing plans aimed at their respective TG. For instance, one of its product brands is 'Yubi Invest', so that’s a product about wealth and it targets wealth managers. The whole marketing campaign and strategy for this sub-product will be built independent of the mother brand.

Translating vision to a new identity

Yubi’s marketing goal in the next two years is to establish itself as a leader powering the entire debt ecosystem in India, West Asia and the North Africa region. On product lines, it is targeting a leadership position in six of the eight sub-brands.

Talking about the brand identity change, Alexa Hargreave, client partner, Venture3, says that the agency has developed a set of brand principles that underpin the way Yubi speaks, acts, looks and behaves to drive the experiences it creates.

These principles include ‘Freedom to collaborate’ (which focuses on breaking down barriers and discovering opportunities), ‘Power of transparency’ (inspired by integrity and honesty in the open exchange of ideas and capital) and ‘Equitable and fair’ (a belief in the public good and opportunity that capital creates).

The agency says that it has repositioned Yubi from a debt marketplace to a ‘possibility platform’.

Design and brand expert Shekhar Badve, founder-director, Lokusdesign, says that the identity looks young and has an interesting play of 2D and 3D effects. “It looks like a marketplace for young investors. (But) I feel the identity should have been a bit serious and build confidence just by looking at it,” he notes.

Bindra, however, is confident that the new brand identity effectively captures Yubi's reason to be and future direction.

FINTECH