FM Nirmala Sitharaman: Fintech companies must see Bharat as fertile ground

New Delhi: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said fintech firms should view rural India as a fertile ground not just as a social responsibility, but as an opportunity to create new markets. She urged them to focus on expanding credit to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Sitharaman also highlighted that startup companies should come up with solutions so that people are not arrested at home digitally, or fly-by-night operators don't take away their money.

"Today, we should take care of addressing them so we need a set of fintech companies which are constantly working to give solutions for the newer challenges which are arising," she said.


The finance minister said that agriculture and rural areas need more innovations so that farmers will be better connected to the markets while noting that consumer demand in rural areas has shown strong and sustained revival.

Speaking at the Digital Payments Award Ceremony 2024-25, Sitharaman said India's fintech market is projected to grow to over $400 billion by 2028-29, reflecting an anticipated annual growth of over 30%. The finance minister also held a review meeting with fintech chief executives and assured them that the government will continue to support the industry.

The FM said the fintech revolution in India will further flourish, and the scale of opportunity is immense.

"It is to the credit of the technology which drives government policy and bank functions," she said, adding that Indian fintech innovations have the potential to become global public goods that can benefit other emerging and developed economies and open new markets for our firms.

"Our players must aim to export our successful models abroad and capture global markets. We have the talent, we have the market scale, and we have the proven solutions," she said.

Sitharaman said nearly ₹44 lakh crore have been transferred through Direct Benefit Transfer since 2014 with full transparency while saving ₹3.48 lakh crore by plugging leakages.

Citing a World Bank study which noted that through Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), India achieved an 80% financial inclusion rate in just six years, Sitharaman said that observers who have gone through this report have said that this feat would have otherwise taken nearly 50 years.