New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal has said that India is poised to become one of the largest digital markets in the world. Addressing the second Global Fintech Fest-2021 through video conferencing recently, he said, “At 87 per cent, India has the highest FinTech adoption rate in the world against the global average of 64 per cent.”

“As of May 2021, India’s United Payments Interface (UPI) has seen participation of 224 banks and recorded 2.6 billion transactions worth over $68 billion and the highest ever, more than 3.6 billion transactions, in August 2021,” said Goyal. “Over 2 trillion transactions were processed using the AePS (Aadhaar-enabled payment system) last year,” he added.

The Minister said India’s FinTech industry came to the rescue of people at the time of pandemic, by enabling them to carry out critical activities from the safety of their homes, particularly during the lockdown and the second wave of Covid-19. “As Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that ‘every crisis can be converted into an opportunity,’ now citizens do not have to go to the banks, the banks have come to their homes and on their mobile phones,” he said.

Goyal said that under the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi India underwent a digital transformation in Mission Mode since he announced the Jan Dhan Yojana in his first Independence Day speech on assuming office, on August 15, 2014. More than two crore accounts were opened under the scheme, which has been considered a world record, he said.

“JAM trinity, besides DBT, has brought in transparency, integrity and timely delivery of financial benefits and services to India’s vast population. JAM trinity has enabled India to leverage its technical capabilities for developing the Fintech sector,” he said.

The minister said that under the National Broadband Mission soon every village in India will have high speed internet and this power can be leveraged to make India a Fintech Innovation Hub.

“I believe India is poised to become one of the largest digital markets with rapid expansion of mobile and internet networks. As India aims to become Atma Nirbhar, we want our industry and entrepreneurs to use local talent to produce globally marketable solutions, he said.

“Our MSMEs have also rapidly adopted FinTech solutions whether for credit, payments, accounting and tax filing. The government has recently launched the Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) and Account Aggregator (AA) framework. These enable formal credit flow to the most vulnerable segments, especially particularly small businesses, bringing Ease for financial institutions to reach large segments, by lowering distribution costs and now institutions can give smaller loans, with short repayment cycles,” he said.