Addressing the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2024 in Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that half of digital transactions in the world are taking place in India and foreign visitors are today amazed by India’s fintech diversity, as much by the country’s cultural diversity.

The GFF was organized by the Payments Council of India, the National Payments Corporation of India, and the Fintech Convergence Council at the Jio World Convention Centre to showcase India’s strides in Fintech.

Mr Modi said India’s fintech revolution is widespread and in the last 10 years, the industry has received a record investment of more than 31 billion USD along with witnessing a startup growth of 500 per cent.

There are affordable mobile phones, inexpensive data, and Jan Dhan Bank accounts starting with zero balance, he said. “Today, the total number of broadband users in the country has increased from 60 million to 940 million,” he said.

There is hardly any 18-year-old in the country without an Aadhaar, a digital identification. “Today, more than 530 million people in the country have Jan Dhan accounts. In a way we have connected a population equivalent to that of the entire European Union to banks in just 10 years,” he added.

The prime minister said the trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile have broken down the mentality of ‘Cash is King’ and made way for approximately half of the digital transactions in the world taking place in India.

“India’s UPI has become a major example of Fintech in the world,” the Prime Minister said adding that it has enabled 27 X 7 banking services in every village and city in all weather conditions. Recalling the COVID pandemic, the Prime Minister said that India was one of the handful of nations in the world where the banking system remained uninterrupted.

He highlighted the 10th anniversary of Jan Dhan Yojna a few days ago and said that it has become a huge medium for women’s empowerment. He said that more than 29 crore bank accounts have been set up for women so far opening up new opportunities for savings and investments.

He said the largest microfinance scheme, Mudra Yojana, was launched on the philosophy of Jan Dhan accounts and has disbursed a credit of Rs 27 trillion so far.

“Seventy per cent of the beneficiaries of this scheme are women,” he said. He explained that Jan Dhan accounts are also used in connecting self-help groups with the banking system and have benefited 10 crore rural women. “Jan Dhan Program has laid strong foundations of financial empowerment of women,” PM Modi remarked.

Cautioning about the dangers of a parallel economy for the world, the Prime Minister remarked that Fintech has played an impactful role in denting such a system and credited the emergence of transparency.

He said that digital technology has introduced transparency in India and gave the example of the implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer used in hundreds of government schemes that have prevented leakages in the system. “Today, people can see the benefits of aligning with the formal banking system”, the Prime Minister reiterated.

Underlining the role of Fintech in democratizing financial services, the Prime Minister gave examples of readily available loans, credit cards, investments, and insurance. He said that Fintech has made access to credit easy and inclusive, and gave the example of the PM SVANidhi scheme that has enabled street vendors to avail of collateral-free loans to expand business. “Our best is yet to come”, the Prime Minister said.