Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that Indian youth are working on next generation ideas in the realm of fintech, with the country’s adaptability to digital payments reaching 87 per cent when the rest of the world is struggling at around 62 per cent.
The finance minister conveyed a sense of optimism about the strides India is making across sectors in an interaction with students at IIT-Dharwad, where she inaugurated the DhaRti BioNEST Incubation Centre.
Sitharaman was all praise for the ideas related to the fintech sector she heard at the recent global fintech fest in Mumbai. The event saw discussions around challenges, next-gen questions and fintech related solutions that are in the works. The highpoint, however, was all these came from young people, she said.
India, she said, stands out having tried, tested and scaled up adaptability of fintech solutions all at one go in a matter of seven to eight years. India could not have achieved financial inclusion without Jan Dhan which was dependent on digital public infrastructure. As a result, everyone could come into the formal banking system, the finance minister said. Fintech also made credit availability possible digitally.
Banks and loan seekers are connected in no time. Fintech made it possible for the government to announce a loan application being accepted in principle by a bank in a matter of 59-minutes, Sitharaman said. The digital identity has helped citizens access loans under the government schemes with only government security, no personal security. The government brought in account aggregators who helped customers access best loan options available, without possessing the customer data.
As a result, a customer in Dharwad could now access a bank in Kolkata with the account aggregator acting only as a pass-through. This account aggregator system has improved credibility availability for small businesses, the FM said. While publicly funded ONDC has helped small businesses tap into a wider market, QR codes have made plastic cards irrelevant. “We are now talking about the next generation, which is where fascinating ideas are coming up,” she said.
