FinTech to play a crutial role in shaping India’s 4th Industrial Revolution

March 11, 2021 2:51 pm

FICCI Fintech Expo 2021 and Conference – Showcasing Indian FinTechs to the World took place involving many industry experts.

Mr. Injeti Srinivas, Chairman, IFSCA recently said India can be the frontrunner in the Fourth Industrial revolution. “We already have with us all the ingredients to lead the way. Potential for fintech is enormous and the Fourth Industrial revolution will be shaped by India,” he added.

Addressing the virtual ‘FICCI Fintech Expo 2021 and Conference – Showcasing Indian FinTechs to the World’, Mr. Srinivas said that the creation of a world-class fintech hub, as announced in the budget recently, also highlights the importance of fintech in India. “IFSCA can act as the second engine of the Indian economy. It can be the external engine that will not only channelize global capital flow into India but also provide international jurisdiction to companies wanting to explore global markets,” he added.

The IFSCA, he emphasised, attaches huge importance to developing a fintech hub in India. “We want to be the frontrunners in this. Under the IFSCA, you (the industry) have a unified regulator who regulates all the segments of the financial sector. For fintech to have an international presence, this is another viable option,” added Mr. Srinivas.

Technology is transcending the limitations of time, space, and cost and by nature it is democratic. There is no use of technology if it is not easily accessible and affordable. “We are at the epicenter of making technology available, accessible and affordable and finance is the lifeblood of an economy. Technology and finance are common to all services,” added Mr. Srinivas.

He further emphasized that there is enormous potential in India but only a fraction of the economic transactions happens digitally. The government’s Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, Digital India, Start-up India, UPI initiatives have been a great trigger to this process combined with the talent at the grassroots level that made use of this opportunity. “With government’s announcements and IFSCAs pro-active initiatives it is the right time that this opportunity should be tapped,” said Mr. Srinivas.

Mr K Rajaraman, Additional Secretary (Investment and IER), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Govt of India said that India’s digital infrastructure has played an important role in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 by facilitating access to finance at remote locations and by aiding the effective deployment of government measures like DBT. He added that the journey of financial inclusion started with the launch of Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in 2014. Powered by India Stack and the JAM trinity, today, nearly 400 million people benefit from it.

“UPI-led innovations are clocking in an astounding two billion transactions a month. The two new frameworks ready to add more value and vibrancy to the India Stack Powered Digital Ecosystem include OCEN (Open Credit Enablement Network) and Account Aggregation Framework. The entire idea is to democratise access to credit,” added Mr. Rajaraman. He further said that several countries around the world are facing challenges of governance and providing services to the citizens is accentuated by the lack of digital infrastructure. India can be a lead model, he emphasized.

Mr. Dilip Chenoy, Secretary-General, FICCI said fintech start-ups are taking initiatives, innovating, and looking at integrating into the financial system. We must enable inclusion and take it international, he added.

Mr. Ruchin Goyal, MD & Senior Partner, BCG also shared his perspective on factors that aid successful forays into the global market by fintech.