GFF 2026: The next breakthrough in responsible financial AI can be built in Mumbai, says Maharashtra CM Fadnavis

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said Mumbai could become a testing ground for the next generation of financial technology, particularly as agentic AI starts giving consumers greater control over their finances.

Speaking at the opening session of Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026, Fadnavis said the next phase of digital finance would be about moving from simply giving people access to financial services to giving them “agency”.

“The first generation of digital finance gave the people access. The next generation can give the people agency,” Fadnavis said.


He said agentic AI could help an MSME entrepreneur understand cash flows, anticipate working capital needs, identify financing options and make better financial decisions, while also bringing sophisticated financial advice to consumers who have traditionally lacked access to it.

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“Imagine a farmer receiving financial advice in Marathi. Imagine every citizen having access to financial intelligence that today requires teams of professionals,” he said.

But as AI takes on a greater role in financial decision-making, Fadnavis said consumers would still need to remain in control.

“AI may act for the citizen, but the citizen must remain in control,” he said, adding that the future of finance would have to combine intelligence with accountability, innovation with consent, and speed with security.

“In finance, ultimately, trust is the technology on which every other technology rests,” Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis said Maharashtra wants to position itself as a “laboratory” for fintech rather than simply a market for companies building financial products.

The state is bringing together its financial and technology ecosystems across Mumbai, Pune and Navi Mumbai, while building out capabilities around AI, data centres, GCCs, startups and advanced technology, he said.

“Bring us your most ambitious ideas,” Fadnavis said, pointing to applications across agriculture, MSMEs, public finance, fraud prevention and citizen services.

“If a solution can work at Maharashtra scale and complexity, it can work almost anywhere in the world,” he said.

Fadnavis also linked the AI opportunity to the other two technologies at the centre of this year's GFF — tokenisation and quantum computing.

He said Maharashtra was working on the architecture for the Maharashtra Digitisation and Exchange of Land Token Asset Act, or Delta Act, which aims to create a legal framework for blockchain-based tokenisation of land and other immovable assets.

The state is working with SEBI, BSE, NSE, industry, technology, law and academia on the framework, he said, stressing that innovation at this scale would need to be backed by legal certainty, consumer protection and regulatory trust.

On quantum, Fadnavis said India's expanding digital economy would also need to prepare for changes in computing power and the resulting risks to the cryptography underpinning financial transactions.

For Mumbai, however, the larger ambition is to become a place where the next generation of financial technology is built, tested and scaled.

“Mumbai should increasingly become the city where the future of global finance is designed,” Fadnavis said.

“The next global financial protocol can be designed here... and the next breakthrough in the responsible financial AI can be built here.”

Fadnavis said Maharashtra would work towards becoming India's largest real-world test bed for fintech, with the government willing to work with innovators, institutions and regulators to test new solutions and deploy them at scale.

“UPI democratised transactions. The next generation of fintech must democratise credit, intelligence, ownership and opportunity,” he said.