Keynote Address delivered by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
At Singapore FinTech Festival
Major highlights of the Keynote Address are as under:
Today, I will have the honour to launch a global platform to connect fintech firms and financial institutions, beginning with ASEAN and Indian banks and fintech companies. The Fintech Festival is also a celebration of belief.
The character of the global economy is changing. Technology is defining competitiveness and power in the new world. In India, it has transformed governance and delivery of public services. It has unleashed innovation, hope and opportunities. It has empowered the weak and brought into mainstream those who were on the margins. It has made economic access more democratic.
My government came to office in 2014 with a mission of inclusive development that would touch the lives of every citizen – the weakest in the remotest village. With the power of fintech and the reach of digital connectivity, we have started a revolution of unprecedented speed and scale. So today, more than a billion biometric identities ‘Aadhaar’, more than a billion bank accounts and more than a billion cell phones give India by far the biggest public infrastructure in the world. The digital infrastructure has helped launch the world’s largest healthcare scheme “Ayushman”, which will provide affordable health insurance to 500 million Indians. It also helped extending 145 million loans for small entrepreneurs through Mudra Scheme. In four years, they amount to INR 6.5 lakh crore (USD 90 billion) and nearly 75% of these loans have gone to women. In addition, I launched India’s RuPay card and the first international remittance mobile app using India’s world class Unified Payment Interface of UPI.
The digitisation of payments and transactions in India is a big change brought about by fintech. Every digital payment saves time. It adds to a huge national saving. It is increasing productivity of individuals and our economy. It also helps improve tax collection and inject fairness in the economy. Even more, digital payments are a gateway to a world of possibilities. The economies of scale achieved in India by the LED bulb industry allowed this energy efficient technology to become more affordable globally.
There is an explosion of fintech innovation and enterprise in India. It has turned India into a leading fintech and Startup nation in the world. The future of fintech and Industry 4.0 is emerging in India.
In short, the Indian story shows six great benefits of fintech: Access; inclusion; connectivity; ease of living; opportunity; and, accountability. Across the world, from the Indo-Pacific to Africa to Latin America, we see inspiring stories of extraordinary innovation changing ordinary lives. Our focus should be development of all, through, that is, development of the most marginalised.
We also need to enhance awareness of the masses and educate them about the opportunities which inclusive policies and use of technology open up for them. For this, fintech will need to be not merely a mechanism but a movement.
At no time in history were we blessed with so many possibilities: to make opportunities and prosperity a reality in a lifetime, for billions, to make the world more humane and equal –between rich and poor, between cities and villages, between hopes and achievements. Just as India will learn from others, we will share our experience and expertise with the world.
