ET Future of Money 2022: MoS Finance Bhagwat Karad to deliver inaugural keynote; over 25 speakers to join summit

The ET Future of Money Summit 2022 – scheduled to go live on Tuesday, 26 July, from 11:30 am onwards – will bring together over 25 speakers, including policymakers, leaders and experts in the banking, financial services and insurance industry, as well as fintech startups and investors to explore the disruptions and developments redefining money and powering the future of finance.

Register for ET Future of Money Summit 2022 (26-27 July)

These leaders – who are at the forefront of the disruptions and developments that are revolutionizing the world of finance – will share insights on the trends shaping the future of money and engage in several knowledge sessions aimed at equipping businesses and people to navigate the transformations unfolding in the financial sector and its resulting impact on the way we live and do business.


Here’s a glance at the key Speakers and sessions to watch out for at ET Future of Money Summit, which is brought to you by EconomicTimes.com, in partnership with associate partner Cashfree Payments and co-associate partner Niyogin Fintech.

• Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Minister of State - Ministry of Finance, Government of India

The ET Future of Money 2022 summit will commence with an inaugural keynote address by Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Minister of State - Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

In a session moderated by Vinay Pandey, Resident Editor, North, Economic Times, Dr Karad will talk about a range of topics including financial inclusion, macroeconomic factors impacting India’s economic growth, and the overall India story. He will deep dive into the different initiatives undertaken by the government towards driving financial inclusion while also sharing his views on the current state of the economy and impact of global macroeconomic risks.

• Sanjeev Sanyal, Member - Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Government of India

Renowned economist and historian Sanjeev Sanyal, who is a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC PM), Government of India will also engage in a keynote fireside session with Deepshikha Sikarwar, Sr. Economic Editor, Economic Times where he will share his views on ‘The changing face of money and its implications on the Indian economy.’

Sanyal recently said that India’s internal market is in a ‘good position’ and that the banking system is “much better now,” acknowledging that the policies adopted during the last two years by the Indian government have made the Indian economy emerge stronger, despite the ravages of the pandemic.

• Rajesh Bansal, CEO, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH)

A veteran central banker, Rajesh Bansal, currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), will spotlight the various initiatives and measures undertaken by RBIH with the aim of ‘Enabling access to frictionless finance solutions for a billion Indians’.

Bansal, who is a member of the founding team of Aadhaar, has previously served at the RBI in various capacities in the areas of technology, financial inclusion, and payments systems. He also led the implementation of the world's first interoperable bank agent system which has become the industry norm, in addition to playing a key role in designing India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system.

During the fireside chat with Miloni Bhatt, Editor - Digital Broadcast, ET.com, Bansal will also be sharing his views on what’s needed to promote digital financial inclusion while detailing how RBIH is helping early-stage fintech startups by providing them with the support they need to grow.

• Eswar Prasad, Author of the book Future of Money

In his book titled ‘The Future of Money’, author Eswar Prasad provides readers a glimpse of how the transformation of money and finance will fundamentally rewrite how ordinary people live and do business. He also talks about what the future holds for cash and the potential impact that the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could have on the global economy.

During the Union Budget for FY23, Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Government of India had announced that the RBI will launch India’s own CBDC later this year. At the summit, Eswar Prasad, Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy & Professor of Economics at Cornell University will decode the coming wave of CBDCs across the world and outline the global lessons that Indian can imbibe in its plan to launch a digital rupee.

• Decoding trends and innovations in payments, banking & wealth management

Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak Asset Management Co; Part-time Member - Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC PM), Government of India will be ‘Decoding India's changing wealth management landscape,’ in a fireside chat with Nikhil Agarwal, Assistant Editor, ET.

Akash Sinha, Co-founder and CEO, Cashfree Payments, will deep-dive on how the fintech startup is ‘Unleashing the potential of API-led banking and accelerating the growth of India's digital economy,’ while Natasha Patel, Former Head of Global Payments and Cash Management, HSBC, and currently CEO of India Sanitation Coalition at FICCI will speak on ‘The Transformations shaping the future of banking and how traditional players can thrive in the digital era.’

In the dedicated track for Digital Payments, Vishwas Patel, Executive Director, Infibeam Avenues Ltd & Chairman, Payments Council of India will speak on ‘Enabling a cashless, digital economy for India & Decoding the playbook of India's first fintech and ecommerce company to IPO,’ while Upasana Taku, Co-founder, MobiKwik will engage in a fireside chat on ‘Innovations in India's Digital Payments Ecosystem: The road ahead’.

• Nithin Kamath of Zerodha and Tashwinder Singh of Niyogin Fintech

In the dedicated track on Financial Inclusion, Nithin Kamath, Founder and CEO, Zerodha will share his thoughts on ‘Fintech for good: Looking beyond profits and targets to drive impact at scale through fintech innovations, investments,’ in which he will highlight how new-age fintech companies can strive to make greater societal impact through financial awareness creation and innovations that drive financial inclusion.

Tashwinder Singh, MD & CEO, Niyogin Fintech will talk on ‘Niyogin Fintech: Empowering MSMEs in Bharat to drive financial inclusion’ in which he will give a glimpse of the advantages that come with empowering MSMEs, rightly termed as the growth engine of the economy. Singh will elaborate on Niyogin’s vision to democratize finance and cater to small businesses’ financial needs .

• Startup spotlight: Hyperface and Zolve

As part of the Startup Spotlight track, Aishwarya Jaishankar, Co-founder, Hyperface will share a short presentation on ‘How Hyperface is reinventing, simplifying, and improving access to credit cards,’ while Raghunandan G, Founder & CEO, Zolve, will elaborate on how Zolve is helping Indian migrants to the US with their financial needs in a presentation on ‘India’s first neobank focused on providing financial access to migrants in the US.’

• SALT Co-founders on why the financial future is female

Shinjini Kumar, Aditi Sholapurkar, and Chaitra Chidanand – the three co-founders of SALT, which is an application aimed at enabling women to be in charge of their money – will engage in discussion on the topic ‘Women and Money: Why the financial future is female.’

They will deep-dive into what’s needed to break stereotypes around women’s position in finance and outline the importance of ensuring financial empowerment of women.

• Industry leaders on role of blockchain and Web3 in finance

Sumit Gupta, Co-founder of CoinDCX, will engage in a session titled ‘Traversing CoinDCX’s journey as a wealthtech destination and how Web3 can shape the future of finance,’ while Tarusha Mittal, Co-founder, Unifarm & OpenDeFi, Kaavya Prasad, Founder, Lumos Labs, Pranav Sharma, Founding Partner, WoodStock Fund, and Adrian Jonklaas, CFO, Covalent will join a panel discussion with Apoorva Mittal, Special Correspondent, ETtech on ‘How blockchain is revolutionizing the financial services industry.’

• ET.com & Reserve Bank Innovation Hub present Innovators Launchpad Track

As a special initiative by ET, in partnership with Reserve Bank Innovation Hub as Knowledge Partner, the Innovators Launchpad will provide a platform to showcase the unique innovations of early-stage fintech startups which have the potential to disrupt the financial industry and catalyze financial inclusion for 1.3 billion Indians.

In the first edition of Innovators Launchpad, watch out for three fintech startups enabling financial inclusion for women, women-led enterprises, and domestics workers. The startups are Anniyam Payment Solutions, Sampatti Cards, and MAKSPay Fintech Solutions, and their solution, MoneyPurse, Sampatti Card, and PehchanPeCard, respectively.

Sarahana T, Chief Visionary Officer (CVO), and Manigandan EV, CEO, Money Purse, Anniyam Payment Solutions will talk about their latest innovation, ‘MoneyPurse: A unified platform enabling digital financial inclusion,’ while Saurabh Kumar Karn, Co-founder & CEO, Sampatti Cards will talk about ‘Sampatti Card: Building wealth for domestic workers,’ and Shiva Prasad, Founder & CEO, MAKSPay Fintech Solutions will engage in a conversation on ‘PehchanPe Card: Enabling financial empowerment for micro and small women-led enterprises’

To catch all these speakers and sessions, do register for the ET Future of Money Summit 2022 here. Scheduled for July 26 and 27, 2022, the two-day-long ET Future of Money Summit will be streamed Live from 11:30 am onwards each day – on Tuesday, 26 July and Wednesday, 27 July – on ET.com and on ET Future of Money website.