New Delhi: Lauding the efforts of the Fintech industry for improving the financial inclusion in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the mentality of “Cash is King” has been broken as FinTech has played a significant role in democratizing financial services.
“The trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile have broken down the mentality of ‘Cash is King’ and made way for approximately half of the digital transactions in the world taking place in India,” Modi said addressing the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2024 in Mumbai.
The Payments Council of India, the National Payments Corporation of India and the Fintech Convergence Council are jointly organizing the Global Fintech Fest 2024.
“India’s UPI has become a major example of Fintech in the world” the Prime Minister said adding that it has enabled 24 X 7 banking services in every village and city in all weather conditions. Recalling the Covid pandemic, Modi said that India was one of the handful of nations in the world where the banking system remained uninterrupted.
The Prime Minister highlighted the 10th anniversary of Jan Dhan Yojna a few days ago and said that it has become a huge medium for women empowerment. He informed that more than 29 crore bank accounts have been set up for women so far opening up new opportunities for savings and investments.
He further added that the largest microfinance scheme, Mudra Yojna, was launched on the philosophy of Jan Dhan accounts and has disbursed a credit of Rs 27 trillion so far and 70 percent of the beneficiaries of this scheme are women.
Cautioning about the dangers of a parallel economy for the world, the Prime Minister remarked that Fintech has played an impactful role in denting such a system and credited the emergence of transparency.
He said that digital technology has introduced transparency in India and gave the example of the implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer used in hundreds of government schemes that has prevented leakages in the system. “Today, people can see the benefits of aligning with the formal banking system”, he reiterated.