FM Sitharaman said that digitisation of financial services brought many unbanked people into the fold, adding that “the idea of sabka saath, sabka vikas’ will be achieved through technology”.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that there are opportunities for fintech players to play the role in a sustainable financial environment, and take advantage of the specific opportunities in green finance — a financial arrangement for the specific use of funds for environmentally sustainable development products.
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Sitharaman further said that digitisation of financial services brought many unbanked people into the fold, adding that “the idea of sabka saath, sabka vikas’ will be achieved through technology”.
To a question related to the role of the central bank and the finance ministry on the proposed digital currency, Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank will come out with the RBI-driven digital currency.
On February 1, she had announced in her Budget speech that Digital Rupee or Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would be issued by the RBI in current financial year.
In her address at GFF 2022, the minister said the RBI’s regulatory sandbox mechanism has provided a structured and institutionalised framework through which fintech companies are able to test their new products, new innovations before scaling them.
“So this has actually helped in testing it in a controlled environment and post that you’re able to scale up rapidly so that markets can get the benefit and you can accelerate your product innovations,” she said.
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Regarding creating a sustainable financial world at the Global Fitech Fest, Sitharaman said India led the way towards an inclusive financial world. “We have brought paperless and cashless layers to the financial world. Have added a cashless layer to the health sector. Have now brought a consent layer to the financial world.”
Sitharaman highlighted that 1.31 billion Aadhaar numbers had been issued in India, and 1.1 billion accounts on the account aggregator network Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was getting businesses to transact on them.
“Indian regulators are not behind in this digital revolution. Loan limits for renewable energy have been doubled,” she said.
