FM urges fintech firms on full-service offerings for underserved segments

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday implored fintech players to evolve their digital financial innovations so as to come up with full-service offerings for the underserved demographic of the country and said several countries are in talks with India to enable home-grown payment mechanisms like the UPI and Rupay cards.

Speaking at the Global Fintech Summit, Ms. Sitharaman cited the example of SBI’s Yono Krishi digital platform unveiled in 2019 as the type of innovation that could be pursued by fintech firms. Farmers can use it not only to track prices of crops and critical inputs, but also to carry out transactions, she noted.

While digitisation will affect most aspects of people’s lives, Ms. Sitharaman emphasised the need to ensure economic stability, national security and pre-empt climate risks. Data security from the point of view of personal data protection, national security as well as cybersecurity were critical to achieve, she said at a FICCI summit later in the day.