Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam said that the fintech in India is driving more inclusion and influencing India’s financial ecosystem. It has become a robust and dynamic financial inclusion tool. 

According to a 2022 BCG Matrix Report, in lending, which is one of the core businesses of the banks, fintechs had a 36% share of new-to-credit customers as compared to a 22% share of brick-and-mortar banks. 

“Fintech is reaching out far more even in lending, an area which is a conventional bank function,” said Sitharaman, Minister while addressing the Global Fintech Fest 2023 or GFF, themed on global collaboration for a responsible financial ecosystem: Inclusive, Resilient, and Sustainable.

Speaking on the issue of threats to the financial ecosystem Sitharaman said, “We should be well seized of the threats and challenges, including physical border threats such as conventional warfare, cyber threats and attacks, crypto threats, drug and drug mafias, tax havens and tax evasions. Addressing these threats, which are before us and active, are key to building a responsible, inclusive, resilient and sustainable financial ecosystem.” In this connection she also appealed to the fintech to invest heavily to protect the cyberthreats. She underlined the important role of the fintech industry in building a responsible, financial ecosystem.

“We are living in a multipolar, dynamic, and robust world that is facing a lot of challenges, and therefore, it is absolutely necessary to have global collaboration, whether it is on strategic issues, the economy or any other. In that, technology is a powerful tool through which we are going to bring a lot of changes and influence a responsible and inclusive financial ecosystem. But for technology to be effective, global cooperation is absolutely critical,” added finance minister.

GFF 2023 is supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the International Financial Services Centre’s Authority (IFSCA) and is organised by the Payments Council of India (PCI), Fintech Convergence Council (FCC), and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).