INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Nirmala Sitharaman emphasized that the digital payments have seen a tremendous growth over the few years.New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman on Tuesday said that India has the highest Fintech adoption rate of 87% as against the global average rate of 64%, which implies
that India is a prime destination for digital payments and activities.Speaking at The Global FinTech Fest, Ms Sitharaman emphasized that the
digital payments have seen a tremendous growth from Rs 2 lakh crore worth of digital transactions in 2019 to Rs 4 lakh crore in 2020.The
last eight months from January to August 2021 saw further momentum, clocking Rs 6 lakh crore worth of digital transactions with number of
individual transactions at 355 crore, showing energetic participation from users, industry and the government in the digital ecosystem, she
added.India has a combination of FinTechs innovating at a rapid pace with user's eager to adopt digital platforms, the Finance Minister
said."India has democratized financial services and accelerated the deployment of digital public good infrastructure that promotes financial
inclusion and progress towards sustainable development goals," Ms Sitharaman stated.She further added, "The UN principles on digital
payments have come at the right time and will serve as an important resource to all stakeholders in delivering digital payments based on the
principles of trust, consent, privacy, transparency and choice for the end user."Speaking at the Fest, T Rabi Sankar, Deputy Governor, RBI,
said, "We are in the best of times, with the promise of technological innovation in finance and hope of substantial efficiency gains, better
customer experience and greater social welfare."He noted that "we also need to deal with threats of online frauds, compromise of customer
credentials and data privacy and safety for the spring of hope not to turn into the winter of despair."The Global FinTech Fest has been
organized by Fintech Convergence Council (FCC) and Payments Council of India (PCI), the two Councils of Internet and Mobile Association of
India (IAMAI), along with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
