In Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has advised India’s financial sector regulators to do more to curb cyber fraud and raise the level of digital literacy in the country. Data from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), people across the country lost Rs 7,061.51 crore to cyber frauds in just four months this year out of which Rs 1,420.48 crore was lost to scamsters who lured people to invest in the stock markets.
"Cyber frauds should not become an impediment to the growth of India’s startups and fintech companies," PM Modi said at the third and final day of the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai on Friday. In 2023, India reported 1.1 million cases of cyber frauds worth Rs 7,489 crore data shows.
The PM said his government was making all the necessary policy changes to assist the fintech sector, citing examples of withdrawing the angel tax, allocating Rs 1 trillion to encourage research and innovation in the country and implementing the Digital Personal Data Protection Act.
Government wanted Angel Tax to curb money laundering but Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in her Budget 2024-25 in July announced the abolition of the levy of the tax for all investors and asset classes to help the financial sector.
The PM said India’s fintech ecosystem was poised for a huge growth and can enhance the ease of living for the entire world since they have also played a big role in democratizing financial services. Citing examples of readily available loans, credit cards, investments and insurance, PM said fintechs had made access to credit easy and inclusive. The PM also talked about SVANidhi scheme meant for street vendors to avail collateral-free loans and expand their business with the help of digital transactions.
“India’s fintech revolution is playing a big role in improving the dignity of life and quality of life. Our best is yet to come,” he said.
According to the PM, the trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile have broken down the mentality of ‘cash is king’ and made way for approximately half of the digital transactions in the world taking place in India. Launched in August 2014, the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) aims to provide universal access to banking services with at least one basic bank account for every household.
“India’s UPI (Unified Payments Interface) has become a major example of fintech in the world,” said Modi.
India recorded about 131 billion UPI transactions in FY24, up from 83.7 billion in FY23, Sitharaman said in April, citing NPCI data. In July, 14.44 UPI billion transactions worth Rs 20.64 trillion were processed, up 45 percent year-on-year by volume and 35 percent by value. UPI is now available in seven countries outside India and may become a global phenomenon.
