MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government is taking many a policy measure to promote the fintech sector, which attracted over USD 31 billion in foreign investments in the past 10 years.
He also added that the fintech sector has grown by over 500 per cent in terms of their number, and cited the abolition of the angel tax as a step towards their growth.
Addressing the global fintech summit on Friday, he also asked regulators to take more proactive measures to stop cyber frauds and further increase digital literacy among people.
"Fintech has played a significant role in democratising financial services," he said and expressed confidence that it will help in improving the quality of life not just for us but for many millions more all over the world.
Emphasising that adoption of fintech by Indians is "unmatched in speed and scale" he said no such example can be found anywhere else in the world.
The transformation brought about by the fintech sector is not just limited to technology, but its social impact is far-reaching, he added.
He also stressed that fintech has dented the parallel economy and is bridging the gap between villages and cities on the financial services front.
Though Modi did not quantify the number of fintech startups, according to the organisers of the summit, there are over 11,000 such players in the country now.
Crediting fintechs for facilitating 24x7x365 banking services, including during the Covid-imposed lockdown days, Modi urged them to spread their wings to the global stage so that they “can help the whole world in doing businesses with much more ease and thus help the whole world lead better lives.”
“We were among the few nations where banking services were functioning smoothly even amid lockdowns and the world is amazed to see our fintech diversity for improving financial inclusion as well as driving innovation,” he said.
Underlining how fintech has helped credit reach small businesses, especially those run by women, Modi said loans worth over Rs 27 trillion have been disbursed under the Mudra scheme, which started during the lockdown days and has gone on to become the world's largest microfinance scheme. Of the total mudra beneficiaries, 100 million are women and as much as 70 per cent of these loans have been availed by women.
Narrating the impact of the tech-driven no-frills account drive that his government has been pushing for a decade now, Modi said this scheme has given women opportunities for financial savings and investments. Of the total 530 million such accounts opened in the past ten years, as much as 290 million belong to women, he said.
Fintech is playing a big role in making a positive social impact, the prime minister said pointing to the benefits that small businesses have been reaping by onboarding themselves onto the ONDC platform.
Concluding his address at the fifth summit, Modi said “I am so confident of you techies that I can tell you your best is yet to come and that I want to come to your tenth summit.”
Addressing the same event, Reserve Bank governor Shaktikanta Das said, digital technologies have been instrumental in expanding financial inclusion, improving efficiency, and enabling real-time services across the country.
“Today, we stand as a global leader in digital payments, a feat achieved by combining proactive policy-making with innovation and technological advancements. Collaboration between policymakers, regulators, and innovators is the defining element of our fintech journey,” Das said, adding regulatory frameworks have facilitated new and innovative businesses to grow in an orderly manner.
"These regulatory initiatives reflect our commitment to support innovation with prudence. Our collaborative approach is visible in the fact that we have held a large number of interactions over the last year with the fintech sector players," Das said.