At the Global Fintech Fest, Dammu Ravi, Secretary (Economic Relations) at the Ministry of External Affairs asserted the critical challenge of addressing the ‘inclusivity’ gap, despite global wealth and investment flows. “With the world GDP at $85 trillion, world wealth at $400 trillion, and $125 trillion in investment flows, there is a sense of dilemma that we have not addressed the ‘inclusivity’ gap, and this is a challenge in front of Governments across the globe. We need to look at, can Digital Public Infrastructure narrow this ‘inclusivity’ gap,” he said at the opening address. “Globally while addressing the equality debate, there is significant interest around ‘inclusivity’, and we also need to be worried about the lack of significant progress on sustainable development, and hence we need to think if fintech technologies will bring about the change in an accelerated manner. For a long time, India has been a ‘rule taker’, and we just abided by the western nations. But, in the fintech revolution, India has an eminent role to play in ‘rule making’, as most of the digital technologies are made in India, and India should be at the forefront of taking the lead,” Ravi added. Also Read‘Financial institutions, fintech must swiftly adopt robust framework to capitalise new opportunities’: RBI Governor at Global Fintech Fest The Global Fintech Fest 2024 (GFF), one of the world’s largest annual fintech conferences, kicked off today at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. Running from August 28-30, this year’s event marks its fifth edition with the theme "Blueprint for the Next Decade of Finance: Responsible AI | Inclusive | Resilient." The conference is presented by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Ministry of External Affairs, the Department of Financial Services (DFS), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). It is jointly organized by the Payments Council of India (PCI), the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC). Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chair of GFF2024, Co-founder of Infosys, and Chairman of Axilor Ventures highlighted the progress of the Indian fintech industry and the role of emerging technologies like IoT, AI, and ChatGPT. “Indian fintech industry has come a long way, combining emerging technologies, business models, innovation, and Digital Public Infrastructure. New technologies are emerging such as IoT, AI, ML, ChatGPT, voice recognition, etc., and every evolution of technology will require responses and how the fintech industry navigates this and maintains momentum,” he said. G Padmanabhan, Former Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India, praised the conference for its networking opportunities, said, “The greatest achievement of Global Fintech Fest is bringing every stakeholder together to network, which is crucial for the development of any ecosystem.” The session also saw the launch of the report “Building Bridges for the Next Decade of Finance.” Over 800 speakers, including policymakers, regulators, senior bankers, industry leaders, and academics from around the world, will address more than 350 sessions during the three-day conference, with delegates expected from over 100 countries.
