Modi first head of govt to address Fintech festival

NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be first head of government to address the Singapore Financial Technology (Fintech) festival, the largest of its kind in the world, on November 14, and will focus on India’s financial inclusion story, and the demonetisation exercise which broadbased tax collection and ensured better compliance even as it helped the cause of digitisation. PM Modi will be in Singapore on November 14-15 for the East Asia Summit and will meet US vice president Mike Pence and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

According to South Block officials, PM Modi is also expected to launch a platform, anchored in Singapore, which will initially connect Indian start-ups to ASEAN banks and financial institutions. This is after PM in May-june this year launched the Rupay platform by using it himself to purchase an Indian handicraft product. He also launched the first cross-border remittance app based on India’s Unified Payment Interface, which can become a convenient, quick, inexpensive and secure means for the Indian diaspora and migrant workers to remit money to India.

With India having one of the largest fintech sectors and start up sectors in world, PM Modi will address over 30,000 participants from 100 countries, 230 leading experts from public policy, finance and technology sectors, and the at least 400 exhibitors at the festival.