With digital payment adaptability at 87%, India working on next-gen fintech ideas, says FM

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said Indian youth are working on next-generation ideas in the realm of fintech following the country’s adaptability to digital payments reaching 87%, while the rest of the world struggled at around 62%.

The finance minister conveyed a sense of optimism about the strides India is making across sectors in an interaction with students at IIT-Dharwad, where she inaugurated the dhaRti BioNEST Incubation Centre.

Sitharaman was all praise for the ideas related to the fintech sector she heard at the recent global fintech fest in Mumbai. The event featured discussions on challenges, next-generation questions, and fintech-related solutions that are in development. The high point, however, was that all these came from young people, she noted.


India, she said, stands out for having tried, tested, and scaled up the adaptability of fintech solutions all at once in a matter of seven to eight years. India could not have achieved financial inclusion without Jan Dhan, which was dependent on digital public infrastructure.

As a result, everyone could come into the formal banking system, the finance minister said. Fintech also made credit availability possible digitally. Banks and loan seekers are connected in no time. Fintech made it possible for the government to announce a loan application being accepted in principle by a bank in just 59 minutes, Sitharaman, who represents Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, said.

The digital identity has helped citizens access loans under the government schemes with only government security, no personal security. The government brought in account aggregators (AGs) who helped customers access the best loan options available, without possessing the customer data. As a result, a customer in Dharwad can now access a bank in Kolkata with the AG acting only as a pass-through. This AG system has improved credit availability for small businesses, the finance minister said.

While the publicly funded ONDC has helped small businesses tap into a wider market, QR codes have made plastic cards irrelevant. Fintech has built a fantastic foundation in a space of seven to eight years, and people can access the service in the language of their choice. “We are now talking about the next generation, which is where fascinating ideas are coming up,” Sitharaman said.

The dhaRti BioNEST Incubation Centre that the FM inaugurated is an initiative by the dhaRti Foundation and IIT Dharwad, supported by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council. Sitharaman has contributed from her MP’s local area development funds to the Council.

The dhaRti BioNEST Incubation Centre aims to strengthen the innovation and startup ecosystem in biotechnology and allied domains, supporting research-driven entrepreneurship from North Karnataka. Earlier, the finance minister visited the stalls of incubated startups at the IIT Dharwad.