After three years of deliberation, the account aggregator (AA) ecosystem is set to get a standard pricing model for the first time, according to three people aware of the matter and a circular reviewed by Business Standard.
Once the pricing comes into effect from November 1, 2026, financial firms that pull customer data through the AA network will pay a standard fee, said the circular and the sources. It would be split among the entity that holds the data, the AA that carries it, and Sahamati, the network’s self-regulatory body.
Entities participating in the AA ecosystem cannot directly charge customers for sharing data through the network, according to the circular from Sahamati, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-recognised self-regulatory organisation for the ecosystem.
“The digital public infrastructure (DPI) utility fee allows AAs to continue building and operating this DPI utility. It includes the incremental cost of ongoing regulatory compliance mandates (like two-factor authentication, consent dashboards and enhanced cybersecurity) so that infrastructure remains healthy, reliable and secure for all participants, especially end-customers,” the circular said.
From November 1, banks, lenders and AAs that use the network will move to common pricing under a single standard contract, replacing the separate deals they had struck with each other so far, including those routed through intermediaries such as technology service providers (TSPs).
So far, these intermediaries have connected lenders and banks to the account aggregator network and have charged for that service. AAs can still charge lenders separately for extra value added services such as custom software tools.
AAs are entities that move a customer’s financial data from one institution to another, such as from a bank to a lender, but only with the customer’s consent.
They pass the data along without being able to read or store it.
Entities that hold customer data, such as banks, are called financial information providers (FIPs), and those that request it, such as lenders, are called financial information users (FIUs). The main idea of AA is to create ease of credit facility or access to other financial services.
“The data belongs to the customer, but there is a fee to deliver the data. There is an expense incurred on technology such as upgradation and cybersecurity. In that case, FIUs will have to pay a fee for them to use that pipe linking AAs and FIPs,” a senior executive with direct knowledge of the matter said.
However, FIPs, such as banks, will be paid only if they deliver data reliably. They must meet a minimum success rate each month, starting at 80 per cent from December 1 that rise in the following months.
Pricing
The lender or an FIU pays all three fees to the AA in a single bill. The AA keeps its share and passes the rest on to the bank and Sahamati. FIPs were not paid before, and the fee paid by an FIU would be passed on to AAs and TSPs.
Unlike AAs, banks and lenders, TSPs are not directly regulated, and the circular gives them no share of the new fees and players believe the new model will squeeze their margins. These players, till now, had independent and bilateral arrangements with FIUs and AAs.
A founder of a TSP said AAs that run their own technology arms could now offer that technology to lenders free, since the new fee gives AAs far higher margins than they earn today. “We see a fundamental incentive misalignment, with no benchmarking on costs,” the founder said.
AA executives disagree. They said that without a standard pricing model, TSPs sat between lenders and AAs and set the prices, keeping most of the money and leaving AAs with little.
“TSPs have been unreasonably profitable compared to AAs. They have been squeezing AAs earlier and were driving down prices that the FIU pays. In many cases, payment from FIUs was made to TSPs since they negotiated deals,” a second person said.
For example, fees are charged for each bank account whose data is successfully shared, and depend on how many months of data the lender asks for. For a seven-month bank statement, the benchmark used in the circular, the lender pays between ₹5.88 and ₹6.55. Of this, ₹2.80 goes to the bank and 40 paise to Sahamati, with the rest going to the AA.
When someone applies for a loan, the lender usually wants to see their bank statements.
Borrowers have typically had to upload PDF statements, which can be doctored, or share their net banking password so software can read the account, which is risky.
The AA network replaces both. With the customer’s consent, the lender requests the data, the bank sends it digitally, and the AA carries it between them.
Banks have so far had to build and maintain the systems that send this data at their own cost. The new fee is meant to pay for that, and to give banks a reason to keep those systems working well.
Sahamati’s share
The new pricing model gives Sahamati a small share of the fee. It was recognised as an SRO in June 2026.
“It is necessary for the ecosystem to be sustainable in itself. It ran itself on donations for the past seven years. Sahamati was also waiting for SRO recognition before it announced the pricing details,” one of the people quoted above said.
