New Delhi, 3 Dec (KNN) Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated InFinity Forum, a thought leadership Forum on FinTech which is hosted by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), under the aegis of the Government of India in collaboration with GIFT City and Bloomberg on 3rd and 4th December, 2021.

Speaking about the evolution of currency in his address note, he said mobile payments had exceeded ATM cash withdrawals last year for the first time, and fully digital banks, without any physical branch offices,  are already a reality and may become commonplace in less than a decade.

He noted that India has proved to the world that it is second to none when it comes to adopting technology or innovating around it, said the press release.

Prime Minister Modi emphasized that now it is time to convert these fintech initiatives into a fintech revolution. “A revolution that helps to achieve financial empowerment of every single citizen of the country,” he said.

Explaining how technology has also catalyzed financial inclusion, he pointed out that from less than 50% of Indians having bank accounts in 2014, India has almost universalized it with 430 million Jan Dhan accounts in the last 7 years.

He also listed initiatives like 690 million RuPay cards clocking  1.3 billion transactions last year; UPI  processing around 4.2 billion transactions in just last month; almost 300 million invoices are uploaded on the GST portal every month; despite the pandemic, about 1.5 million railway tickets are getting booked online every day; last year, FASTag processed  1.3 billion seamless transactions; PM Svanidhi enabled access to credit for small vendors across the country;  e-RUPI enabled targeted delivery of specified services without leakages.

Prime Minister said Modi, Fintech is resting on 4 pillars: income, investments, insurance and institutional credit. “When income grows, investment becomes possible. Insurance coverage enables greater risk-taking ability and investments. Institutional credit gives wings for expansion. And We have worked on each of these pillars. When all these factors come together, you suddenly find so many more people participating in the financial sector”, the Prime Minister elaborated.

He stressed the importance of trust in fintech in the light of the wide acceptance of these innovations among the masses. The common Indian has shown immense trust in our Fintech ecosystem by embracing digital payments and such technologies. “This trust is a responsibility. Trust means that you need to ensure that the interests of people are secured. Fintech innovation will be incomplete without fintech security innovation”, he said.

The agenda of the Forum is focusing on the theme of 'Beyond'; with various sub-themes including FinTech beyond boundaries, with governments and businesses focussing beyond the geographical boundaries in the development of global stack to promote financial inclusiveness; FinTech beyond Finance, by having convergence with emerging areas such as SpaceTech, GreenTech and AgriTech to drive sustainable development; and FinTech Beyond Next, with focus on how Quantum Computing could impact the nature of Fintech industry in the future and promote new opportunities.

Indonesia, South Africa and the U.K. are partner countries in the first edition of the Forum and has participation from over 70 countries.