“India’s fintech ecosystem is a strong demonstration of the power of using technology in government and digital government and the impact it has on creating the innovation ecosystem,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
He made these comments at the conclusion of a three-day Fintech Festival in India organized in the national capital by Constellar and supported by Niti Aayog and six central ministries. Held at Pragati Maidan, the event saw some leading lights of the Fintech industry present their views on its growth and its future.
Elaborating on the idea, the minister said, “After 2014, our Prime Minister announced his vision of Digital India where there were three goals – technology must transform governance; creating opportunities for India’s youth, expanding the digital economy as part of the overall Indian economy and from being a consumer of technology, to being a producer of technology.
“The citizen’s trust in the authorities is a result of this initiative. India’s fintech ecosystem is a strong demonstration of the power of using technology in government and digital government and the impact it has on creating the innovation ecosystem,” he said.
Last year on August 15th as we celebrate the country’s 75 yearsth the year of independence, Narendra Modi announced that this is India’s ‘tech-ade’ as there are now a large number of opportunities for startups and entrepreneurs. This decade will build on the energy, hard work, determination along with innovation and ideas of young Indians across the country, he said.
Referring to the role of technology and recent political changes, Baijayant Panda, national VP and spokesperson of the BJP, said, India is no longer just a follower economy. The single biggest economic reform seen in 75 years, GST has radically expanded the scope of the formal economy, making it accessible and traceable thanks to the fintech revolution. Besides cementing collaboration between the private and public sectors, fintech has also emerged as a key collaboration partner between India and countries such as Singapore and the UK.
“Fintech is already witnessing a hockey stick growth, today it can be eating golgappas or choosing a bite from a paan shop, I can seamlessly make a digital payment, showing the massive adoption of fintech which is the highest globally at 87% , significantly higher than the global average of 64%. Today, the way we have returned economically to become the fastest growing major economy would not have been possible without the FinTech revolution and the kind of governance and management the nation has witnessed,” Panda said.
The two-day conference is being attended by leading industry professionals such as Sarbvir Singh, CEO, Policybazaar; Suhail Sameer, CEO, BharatPe; Raghu Ramanujam, Product Director, Flipkart; Mridul Gupta, Chief Operating Officer, CoinDCX; Santosh Kumar, Chief Innovation Officer, Citi Markets India; Hitesh Sachdev, Head – Startup Engagement & Investments, ICICI Bank and Sunit Vakharia, Head – Consumer Banking Technology India, DBS Bank among others.
The conference was supported by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Ministry of Commerce and Industry), Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (A Government of India Enterprise – Under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) and Startup India (Department for promotion of Industry and Internal Trade & Invest India). It has also received support from the Government of Tamil Nadu, Government of Karnataka and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT).
