Mumbai:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the government is taking various measures at the policy level to promote the fintech sector, which attracted over USD 31 billion in investments in the last 10 years, and the abolition of the Angel Tax is also a step towards the growth of the segment.

Addressing the Global Fintech Fest 2024 here, the Prime Minister also asked the regulators to take more measures to stop cyber fraud and further increase digital literacy among people.

“Fintech has played a significant role in democratising financial services,” he said, and expressed confidence that it will help in improving the quality of life for Indians.

PM Modi emphasised that the adoption of fintech by Indians is “unmatched in speed and scale” and no such example can be found anywhere else in the world.

He said the transformation brought about by the fintech sector in India is not just limited to technology, but its social impact is far-reaching.

He also stressed that fintech has dented the parallel economy and is bridging the gap between villages and cities on the financial services front.

The Prime Minister also said that in the last 10 years, the fintech space has attracted investments of more than USD 31 billion and fintech startups have grown by 500 per cent.

He said it is festive season in India, and there is also festivity in the economy and markets, in an apparent reference to the robust GDP growth and capital market scaling new highs.

PM Modi also informed the gathering that loans worth over Rs 27 lakh crore have been disbursed under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, the world’s largest microfinance scheme.

Speaking at the event, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, digital technologies have been instrumental in expanding financial inclusion, improving efficiency and enabling real-time services across the country.

“Today, India stands as a global leader in digital payments, a feat achieved by combining proactive policy-making with innovation and technological advancements. Collaboration between policymakers, regulators and innovators is the defining element of India’s Fintech journey,” Mr Das said.

The Reserve Bank’s regulatory frameworks have facilitated new and innovative businesses to grow in an orderly manner, he said.

“These regulatory initiatives reflect our commitment to support innovation with prudence. Our collaborative approach is visible in the fact that we have held a large number of interactions over the last one year with the Fintech sector players,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Indian fintech industry is projected to reach $420 billion by 2029, at a cumulative annual growth rate of 31 per cent from around $110 billion this year, Ajay Kumar Choudhary, non-executive chairman and independent director, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said today.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of Assocham’s second ‘India International Fintech Festival’ in the national capital, Choudhary said the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has gone global and the India Stack’s flagship offering is now available at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Galeries Lafayette’s flagship store in Haussmann ahead of Paris Olympics and certain countries in the Middle East.

“In Singapore, nearly 26,000 cab drivers are using the UPI. In the UAE, many merchants are now using the UPI mode of payment. Nepal has also started UPI. In India, UPI payments are breaking all records and you will see exponential growth in the years to come,” Choudhary told IANS.

“NPCI has also set an ambitious target of achieving 1 billion UPI transactions per day in the coming years,” he added.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the event, Choudhary informed that with over 9,000 fintech entities, India ranks third globally and commands 14 per cent of startup funding in the country.

“The adoption rate of fintech in India is 87 per cent, which is much above the global average of 67 per cent,” he told the gathering.

According to Anand Vijay Jha, Chairman, Assocham Fintech Council, we need to be much more focused on delivering values to attract investors to the ecosystem.

“India’s strong position in digital public infrastructure is rooted in public-private partnership. With multiple stakeholders in the ecosystem, the role of policymakers and regulators assumes greater significance,” said Jha.

The government’s push towards a digital economy, coupled with a young and tech-savvy population, is likely to propel the fintech sector to new heights.

According to Archana Vohra, Managing Director, Google, the UPI is not just a set of tech rails, it is an infinite amount of work to make sure that making digital payments is easily accessible.

“What brought us here will not take us ahead, so we need to be persistent, and resilient and make sure that the next 10 to 15 years help us go deeper into the fintech space,” said Vohra.

Vikas Verma, COO, Mastercard said that access to credit is one of the fundamental catalysts that is propelling India towards its ‘Viksit Bharat’ vision and fintechs can enable access to credit for the underserved segments of our society.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)