Fintech revolution needed for financial empowerment: PM
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for a “fintech revolution” to achieve financial empowerment of every single citizen, and said the country has made significant progress in this area because of people’s trust in the Indian digital ecosystem.
“Financial inclusion is the driver of the fintech revolution,” Modi said, adding that fintech rests on the four pillars of income, investments, insurance and institutional credit.
The Prime Minister was virtually addressing the Infinity Forum, a financial technology event of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), when he made the remarks.
Modi said that when income grows, investment becomes possible, and insurance coverage allows for greater risk-taking and investments. He added that institutional credit gives wings for expansion and pointed out that India has worked on each of these pillars.
The Prime Minister said that the success of fintech lies in its inclusiveness and common good. “The large base becomes the perfect springboard for fintech innovations. The fintech industry in India is innovating to enhance access to finance and (access to ) the formal credit system for every person in the country.”
“Now, it is time to convert these fintech initiatives into a fintech revolution, a revolution that helps to achieve financial empowerment of every single citizen of the country,” he added.
Modi cited several initiatives of his government to empower people through fintech. He said that India has almost universalised banking with 430 million Jan Dhan accounts over the last seven years.
So far, 690 million Rupay cards have been issued that clocked 1.3 billion transactions last year, and the locally developed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has processed around 4.2 billion transactions last month, he added.
Modi said India is fast adopting digital governance for ease of life as almost 300 million invoices are uploaded by businesses on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) portal every month, involving payments worth over $12 billion.
“Despite the (Covid-19) pandemic, about 1.5 million railway tickets get booked online everyday. Last year, FASTAG processed 1.3 billion seamless transactions. PM Svanidhi is enabling access to credit for small vendors across the country. E-RUPI has enabled the targeted delivery of specified services without leakages. I can go on and on, these are just a few examples of the scale and scope of fintech in India,” he said.
“India has proved to the world that it is second to none when it comes to adopting technology or innovating around it. Transformational initiatives under Digital India have opened doors for fintech innovations to be applied in governance.”
Modi said the rapid growth of fintech in the country is because of people’s trust. “The common Indian has shown immense trust in our fintech ecosystem by embracing digital payments and such technologies. This trust is a responsibility. Trust means that you need to ensure the interests of people are secured. Fintech innovation will be incomplete without fintech security innovation,” he said.