“India is among the fastest growing fintech markets in the world with a market size of $31 billion in 2021 that is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2030,” said Dr V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor of India, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2022 (GFF 2022) in Mumbai.
“A major shift towards a more equitable distribution of investment across sectors including InsurTechs, WealthTechs, etc, has started taking place. We are talking about bridging the digital divide and the economic divide. Therefore the focus now is on how the combination of technology and finance is enabling access to finance and access to opportunities,” he added.
GFF 2022 is organised and presented by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, Reserve Bank of India, International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), National Payments Council of India, the Payments Council of India (PCI) and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC). Pre-event festivities began virtually on September 19, 2022. This is the third edition of the Global Fintech Fest, and the first one where domain experts are participating from across the globe in person and virtually.
Setup in 2017 as a fintech committee, Fintech Convergence Council was later converted into an independent council with its independent governing board, with over 70 members. The FCC represents various players in the fintech, banking, financial services, and technology space. The FCC works towards the penetration of financial services with the aim of financial inclusion and moving towards a digitally empowered country. It creates opportunities for collaboration and convergence among various players in the financial services domain.
India’s largest fintech conference, GFF 2022, kick-started with a session on ‘Creating A Sustainable Financial World’, where industry stalwarts such as Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, GFF 2022 Advisory Board, Chairman, Axilor Ventures and Co-founder, Infosys, Mr Naveen Surya, Chairman, Fintech Convergence Council, Mr Srinivas Jain, ED & Head of Strategy, SBI Mutual Fund and Ms Smita Aggarwal, Global Investments Advisor, Flourish Ventures deliberated on the topic.
“The next wave in the fintech sector could be the cash flow lending to MSMEs using Account Aggregator, UPI and OCEN. The lending potential of $3 trillion next year will be based on GST invoices and bank statements made available on Account Aggregator and banks adopting OCEN. The government is now pivoting from digital financial inclusion to digital financial empowerment. This is being done through Jan Dhan 2.0, strong gender focus, PM SVAnidhi Scheme, eKYC and digital onboarding and protection of digital customers,” Dr Nageswaran further said.
In another insightful address on catalysing the growth of health insurance in India with National Health Stack, Dr R. S. Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, National Health Authority, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, said, “The National Health Authority has successfully implemented flagship programs, Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY) and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission that have transformed the health insurance industry. PMJAY is providing health insurance coverage to over 500 million people at the bottom of the pyramid to the tune of Rs 5 lakhs per month, per family and is the world’s largest health insurance scheme.”
“Today we have a huge opportunity to digitize the entire health space that will ultimately impact the health insurance industry in this country. We have already built the enabling platform in the form of the ‘Health Claims Exchange’. We are now building the adapters from the providers’ and payers’ sides, after which the platform will ensure the interchangeability of information in a very seamless way,” he added.
GFF 2022 is being supported by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), National Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency (Invest India), Startup India, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) and ONDC. Special Partners of GFF 2022 are World Bank Group, United Nations Capital Development Fund, BIS Innovation Hub, KNOMAD, Better Than Cash Alliance and International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Speaking about the barriers and drivers to growing digital payments for the next half a billion users, Praveena Rai, Chief Operating Officer, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said: “As per the RBI Payments Vision 2025, digital payments are for everyone, everywhere, and every time, where everywhere and every time boils down to the quality of connectivity required to commit to digital payments and digital solutions.”
