Embassy of india

Jakarta

Excerpts of Keynote Address delivered by H.E. Mr Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India at Singapore FinTech Festival on 14 November 2018.

• Today, I will have the honour to launch a global platform to connect fintech firms and financial institutions, beginning with ASEAN and Indian banks and fintech companies.
• My government came to office in 2014 with a mission of inclusive development that would touch the lives of every citizen – the weakest in the remotest village. With the power of fintech and the reach of digital connectivity, we have started a revolution of unprecedented speed and scale.
• To begin with financial inclusion has become a reality for 1.3 billion Indians. We have generated more than 1.2 billion biometric identities – called Aadhaar or foundation – in just a few years.
• With our Jan Dhan Yojana, we aimed to give a bank account to every Indian. In three years, we have opened 330 million new bank accounts. These are 330 million sources of identity, dignity and opportunities.
• So today, more than a billion biometric identities, more than a billion bank accounts and more than a billion cell phones give India by far the biggest public infrastructure in the world.
• More than Rupees 3.6 lakh crore, or 50 billion dollars of benefits from government have reached the people directly.
• No longer must a poor citizen in a remote village travel long distances or pay off middle-men to get her rights.
• No longer can fake and duplicate accounts bleed government finances. We have saved over Rupees 80,000 crore, or 12 billion dollars in prevented leakages.
• Now, millions who lived on the edge of uncertainty receive insurance in their accounts; and, have access to the security of pension in old age.
• A student can get her scholarship directly into her account. No longer will she be lost in end-less paper chase.
• Banking has come to doorsteps even in remote villages through 400,000 micro ATMs based on Aadhaar.
• And now, this digital infrastructure has helped launch the world’s largest healthcare scheme this year. ‘Ayushman’ will provide affordable health insurance to 500 million Indians.
• It has also helped us extend 145 million loans for small entrepreneurs through Mudra scheme. In four years, they amount to Rupees 6.5 lakh crore, or 90 billion dollars. Nearly 75 percent of these loans have gone to women.
• Just a few weeks ago, we launched the India Post Payments Bank. Over 150 thousand post offices across India and 300,000 postal service employees are using technology to provide house to house banking.
• More than 120,000 village councils in India have already been connected by nearly 300,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables.
• Over 300,000 Common Service Centres have brought digital access to villages. They give our farmers better access to land records, credit, insurance, market and the best price. They deliver health services and hygiene products to women.
• None of this would have been as effective without the other big change brought about by fintech – the digitisation of payments and transactions in India.
• For those with mobile and internet, the BHIM-UPI is the world’s most sophisticated, simpleand seamless platform for payments between accounts, using a virtual payment address.
• For those who have a mobile, but no internet, there is U.S.S.D. system in 12 languages.
• And, for those who have neither mobile nor internet, there is Aadhar Enabled Payment System, which uses biometrics. And, it has already registered a billion transactions and grown six-fold in two years.
• RuPay is bringing payment cards within the reach of all. Over 250 million of these are with those who did not have a bank account 4 years ago.
• From cards to QRs and wallets, digital transactions in India are growing rapidly. Today, 128 banks in India are connected to UPI.
• Transactions on UPI grew 1500 times in the last 24 months. Every month, the value of transaction is growing by over 30 percent.
• And, just this month, we committed to approve loans up to Rupees 1 crore, or one 150,000 dollars for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises within 59 minutes – without even visiting a bank. This is driven by an algorithm that uses GST returns, Income Tax returns and bank statements to make credit decisions. In just a few days, 150,000 such enterprises have come on board for loans.
• Government e-Marketor GEM is an integrated platform for purchases by government agencies.
• It provides everything – search and comparison, tender, online ordering, contract generation and payment.
• It already has 600,000 products. Nearly 30,000 buyer organisations and more than 150,000 sellers and service providers are registered on the platform.
• India has the largest data consumption in the world and the cheapest rates for data. And one of the top nations in fintech adoption. So, I say this to all the fintech companies and startups – India is your best destination.

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