Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that Unified Payments Interface-based transactions are expected to reach one billion per day in the next five years.
Addressing an event organized by FICCI, Sitharaman said data released by NPCI shows that UPI has handled transactions worth Rs 6.28 billion. 10.62 trillion (approx. Rs. 11,00,000 crore) in July 2022.
“Transactions are witnessing substantial growth on a monthly basis. UPI aims to process one billion transactions per day in the next five years,” she said.
The finance minister also said that technology adoption in India is high not only in big cities but also in tier-2 and 3 cities and rural areas. “Digital adoption by Indian citizens is amazing,” she added.
Addressing a session on ‘Future of Financing’ at FICCI LEADS 2022, Sitharaman said the future of finance is going to be volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) and “we have a sense of urgency to plan.”
She also said that artificial intelligence is going to play a significant role in the fintech sector. “I see a big role for AI in the fintech sector in detecting fraud, crime and risk. We have to ensure personal data security, national and cyber security in our planning,” she added.
The Finance Minister said that India is working on a system where only one KYC is required which can be used in different sectors.
Sitharaman added that the future of finance will increasingly be driven by banking and related services, and account aggregators will play an important role in that. “21 banks, including public sector banks, have adopted the account consolidation system,” she added.
The Union Minister emphasized that the link between start-ups, fintech and private equity is emerging. There are 6,636 start-ups and 21 unicorns in the fintech sector and private equity has helped them become start-ups. “Private equity is quickly pushing them on the path to progress,” she said.
“We need to make sure that climate risks don’t hit us because we’re talking about a digital future,” she added.
