India has 87% fintech adoption rate — highest in the world: Goyal

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday that India is poised to become one of the largest digital markets in the world. Virtually addressing the 2nd Global Fintech Fest-2021, Goyal said, "At 87%, India has the highest FinTech adoption rate in the world against the global average of 64%."

"As of May 2021, India's United Payments Interface (UPI) has seen participation of 224 banks & recorded 2.6 billion transactions worth over $68 Bn and the highest ever, more than 3.6 Bn transactions, in Aug'21," said the Union Minister. "Over 2 trillion transactions were processed using the AePS (Aadhar-enabled payment system) last year," Goyal added.

The Commerce Minister explained that India is one of the fastest-growing Fintech markets with "more than 2,100 FinTechs". "A lot of Indian Fintech markets are unicorns and India's market is currently valued at $31 Bn, and expected to grow to $84 Bn by 2025," he said.

Piyush Goyal noted that India's FinTech industry had come to the rescue of people during the coronavirus pandemic. It had enabled people to carry critical activities from the safety of their homes, especially during lockdowns and the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Goyal added that FinTech sector today has the potential to bring investments for mobile apps, e-commerce stores and several other digital infrastructures.

"Investment inflow in the Fintech sector which has gone up to $10Bn since it started in 2016 has the huge potential to "Up the Game", it will simultaneously enhance customer experience. Your strength will be augmented by the world's 3rd largest Startup ecosystem which is hungry for growth," he said.

He conveyed that even non-financial services sectors are proactively adopting FinTech solutions. "Our MSMEs have also rapidly adopted FinTech solutions whether for credit, payments, accounting & tax filing. Government has recently launched the Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) & Account Aggregator (AA) framework. These enable formal credit flow to the most vulnerable segments, especially particularly small businesses, brings Ease for financial institutions to reach large segments, by lowering distribution costs and now institutions can give smaller loans, with short repayment cycles," Goyal noted.

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