Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked fintech firms to focus on ensuring greater security in their transactions to retain the trust of people who have embraced digital payments and financial technologies.
Stressing that it is time to convert India’s fast fintech adoption, reflected in high volumes of UPI and other digital transactions, into a ‘fintech revolution that helps to achieve financial empowerment of every single citizen of this country’, the PM said certain considerations need attention in this endeavour.
“Achieving this huge scale means that people from all walks of life have shown immense trust by accepting digital payments and technologies. Trust is a responsibility that you have, and you need to ensure that interests of the people are secure,” the PM said.
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Emphasising that fintech innovation would thus be incomplete without ‘fintech security innovation’, Mr. Modi said India believes in sharing its experiences and expertise with the world and learning from them as well.
“India’s finance is a lifeblood for the economy and technology is its carrier. Both are equally important for achieving Antyodaya as well as Sarvodaya,” he said at the InFinity Forum organised by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and Bloomberg.
Noting that the country’s financial inclusion efforts are the driver for the ‘fintech revolution’, the PM said: “Fintech is resting on four pillars — income, investments, insurance and institutional credit. When income grows, investment becomes possible; insurance covers enable greater risk-taking ability and investments; and institutional credit brings means for advancement.”
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“When all those factors come together, you will suddenly find a large number of people embracing fintech innovation,” Mr. Modi said, adding that India’s initiatives such as UPI and Rupay provide ‘an unparalleled opportunity for every country to provide a low-cost, reliable payment system as well as domestic funds remittance system’.
The GIFT City in Gujarat, he said, is a gateway to the global fintech world and aims to provide the best international financial services not just for India, but for the world.
“GIFT City is not merely a premise, it represents India. It represents India’s democratic values, demand, demography and diversity. It represents India’s openness to ideas, innovation and investment,” the PM said. “Let us together explore and advance innovative ideas in fintech to solve the most pressing issues emerging globally,” he concluded.