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 Prime Minister 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,” Mr. Modi said.
Emphasising that fintech innovation will 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.
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.”
“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 like 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.