Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai, marking his third consecutive appearance at the event. He highlighted India's robust economic performance with 7.8% growth during the April to June quarter and noted that a Japanese credit rating agency had recently upgraded India's sovereign ratings to the A- category after three decades, attributing this to structural reforms and macroeconomic stability.
The Prime Minister identified Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as the cornerstone of India's fintech revolution, revealing that the platform processed over 24 billion transactions in August 2026 alone, averaging approximately 50 lakh transactions in the first ten minutes of the event. UPI celebrated its tenth anniversary on August 25 and is now operational in 11 countries. PM Modi emphasized the need to integrate UPI with domestic payment systems of partner countries, particularly where large Indian populations reside or significant trade occurs, to reduce transaction costs for remittances.
PM Modi outlined a strategic four-point roadmap for the fintech sector: establishing top-notch cybersecurity standards, implementing ethical data protection protocols, creating a robust regulator-industry innovation ecosystem, and developing a transparent fintech consumer protection index. He emphasized that these measures would unlock global opportunities for India's fintech sector.
The address highlighted the PM SVANidhi scheme's success in integrating millions of street vendors into the formal credit system, boosting their average annual income by over 20% and improving access to housing, nutrition, healthcare, and education. The government has extended this scheme until 2030. PM Modi urged the fintech industry to expand beyond payments into credit, insurance, savings, investments, and pension products, particularly for marginalized sectors and micro-businesses.
Emerging technologies such as Agentic AI, tokenization, and quantum computing were identified as revolutionary forces opening new possibilities in the financial sector. The Prime Minister challenged the industry to translate these technological advancements into tangible societal benefits while maintaining the core values of scale, scope, security, democratization, and public trust that underpinned Digital India's success.