IndiaStack is Brilliant; Next Step to Make it Globally Interoperable: Says Shivananda, CTO, Paypal, at the Global Fintech Fest

The first day of Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2020 – the largest two-day virtual fintech meet-up saw powerful ideas and forecasts coming from several marquee global fintech and BFSI leaders.

GFF, supported by World Bank and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), is organised by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC) of Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

In a fireside chat, Paypal SVP and CTO Sri Shivananda described the interoperable IndiaStack coupled with Aadhaar and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Jan-Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) as ‘Brilliant’.

“There is no technical stack in the world with a country’s name as prefix. What the Indian government and regulators have done together with the common national identity through a digital system and a common national API for payments, is nothing but brilliant. India is one of the first countries that has a platform first approach, with the platform being secure, robust and reliable. It is a role model for many other countries to follow,” he said.

Meanwhile, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Government of India said the future of lending will be Phygital. He bet big on digital lending as the next big driver in fintech, driven by retail loans. Kant said fintech is the shining star of India’s startup and technology ecosystem, enabling seamless transition from physically connected to a physically distant but socially connected environment.

Speaking on financial inclusion, Monetary Authority of Singapore Chief Fintech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty added that COVID has made it clear that now is the time to move towards sustainable and resilient products.

Mohanty expressed that there is great opportunity in open banking globally, with video and immersive banking expected to grow as ASEAN markets shift from 4G to 5G network.

Offering insights on fintech growth, P Vasudevan, CGM-DPSS, Reserve Bank of India remarked that the regulator has seen 58 percent CAGR growth in volume in digital transactions in the last 5 years. There are significant events like Demonetisation and COVID which have really changed the way we do digital payments, he said. Vasudevan estimated that at current CAGR, in next 5-6 years daily digital transactions can reach 3 times to 15 trillion rupees in India. He added that the purpose of digital payments is to have financial inclusion.

In his opening address, Dilip Asbe, Managing Director and CEO, NPCI said, “The phenomenal success of our home-grown platform of UPI and the global recognition it received is a testimony in itself as to how far we have come as a nation – from being followers to innovators and pioneers in the industry. The pandemic has been a great catalyst for the industry and we aim to develop an eco-system where digital transactions are executed remotely, possibly by majority of our population.”

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GFF saw participation from 50+ countries, 100+ speakers and 10000+ delegates, 75 exhibitors. Over 45% speakers comprised of global community.