Keynote
address by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at Singapore FinTech
Festival- Nov 14, 2018
Deputy
Prime Minister of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a voice of
influence in the world of finance, Mr. Ravi Menon, Managing Director
of Monetary Authority of Singapore, a leading institution in
fintech,Tens of thousands of participants from over one hundred
countries,
Namaskar!
It
is a great honour to be the first Head of Government to deliver the
keynote address at Singapore Fintech Festival.
This
is a tribute to the youth of India with its eyes firmly fixed to the
future.
It
is an acknowledgement of the financial revolution sweeping through
India and transforming the lives of 1.3 billion people.
This
is an event of finance and technology and, it is also a festival.
This
is the season of the Indian Festival of Lights – Deepawali. It is
celebrated all over the world as a victory of virtue, hope, knowledge
and prosperity. The Diwali lights are still on in Singapore.
The
Fintech Festival is also a celebration of belief.
Belief
in the spirit of innovation and the power of imagination.
Belief
in the energy of youth and their passion for change.
Belief
in making the world a better place.
And,
it is no surprise that in just its third year, this Festival is
already the world’s largest.
Singapore
has been a global hub for finance and, it is now taking a leap into
the digital future of finance.
It
was here, in June this year, that I launched India’s RuPay card and
the first international remittance mobile app using India’s world
class Unified Payment Interface or UPI.
Today,
I will have the honour to launch a global platform to connect fintech
firms and financial institutions, beginning with ASEAN and Indian
banks and fintech companies.
India
and Singapore are also working to connect Indian and ASEAN small and
medium enterprises, anchored on an Indian platform, and expand it
globally.
Friends,
I
have heard of an advice going around in start-up circles.
? To
increase your Venture Capital or VC funding by 10 percent, tell the
investors you run a “platform”, not a regular business.
? If
you want to increase your VC funding by 20 percent, tell the
investors that you are operating in the “fintech space”.
? But,
if you really want the investors to empty their pockets, tell them
that you are using “blockchain” .
It
tells you of the excitement and promise of emerging technologies to
transform the world of finance.
Indeed,
history has shown that finance is often the first to embrace new
technology and connectivity.
Friends,
We
are in an age of a historic transition brought about by technology.
From
desktop to cloud, from internet to social media, from IT Services to
Internet of Things,we have come a long way in a short time. There is
daily disruption in businesses.
The
character of the global economy is changing.
Technology
is defining competitiveness and power in the new world.
And,
it is creating boundless opportunities to transform lives.
I
had said at the United Nations in 2014 that we have to believe that
development and empowerment can spread with the same speed at which
Facebook, Twitter or mobile phones have spread.
Across
the world, that vision is rapidly changing into reality.
In
India, it has transformed governance and delivery of public
services.It has unleashed innovation, hope and opportunities.It has
empowered the weak and brought into mainstream those who were on the
margins .It has made economic access more democratic.
My
government came to office in 2014 with a mission of inclusive
development that would touch the lives of every citizen – the
weakest in the remotest village.
That
mission needed a solid foundation of financial inclusion for all –
a task that was not easy in a country of India’s size.
Yet,
we wanted to achieve this in months, not years that conventional
wisdom suggested.
With
the power of fintech and the reach of digital connectivity, we have
started a revolution of unprecedented speed and scale.
To
begin with financial inclusion has become a reality for 1.3 billion
Indians. We have generated more than 1.2 billion biometric identities
– called Aadhaar or foundation – in just a few years.
With
our Jan DhanYojana, we aimed to give a bank account to every Indian.
In three years, we have opened 330 million new bank accounts.These
are 330 million sources of identity, dignity and opportunities.
Less
than 50 percent of Indians had bank accounts in 2014; now, it is
nearly universal.
So
today, more than a billion biometric identities, more than a billion
bank accounts and more than a billion cell phones give India by far
the biggest public infrastructure in the world.
More
than Rupees 3.6 lakh crore, or 50 billion dollars of benefits from
government have reached the people directly.
No
longer must a poor citizen in a remote village travel long distances
or pay off middle-men to get her rights.
No
longer can fake and duplicate accounts bleed government finances. We
have saved over Rupees 80,000 crore, or 12 billion dollars in
prevented leakages.
Now,
millions who lived on the edge of uncertainty receive insurance in
their accounts; and, have access to the security of pension in old
age.
A
student can get her scholarship directly into her account. No longer
will she be lost in end-less paper chase.
Banking
has come to doorsteps even in remote villages through 400,000 micro
ATMs based on Aadhaar.
And
now, this digital infrastructure has helped launch the world’s
largest healthcare scheme this year. ‘Ayushman’ will provide
affordable health insurance to 500 million Indians.
It
has also helped us extend 145 million loans for small entrepreneurs
through Mudra scheme. In four years, they amount to Rupees 6.5 lakh
crore, or 90 billion dollars. Nearly 75 percent of these loans have
gone to women.
Just
a few weeks ago, we launched the India Post Payments Bank. Over 150
thousand post offices across India and 300,000 postal service
employees are using technology to provide house to house banking.
Of
course financial inclusion also needs digital connectivity.
More
than 120,000 village councils in India have already been connected by
nearly 300,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables.
Over
300,000 Common Service Centres have brought digital access to
villages. They give our farmers better access to land records,
credit, insurance, market and the best price. They deliver health
services and hygiene products to women.
None
of this would have been as effective without the other big change
brought about by fintech – the digitisation of payments and
transactions in India.
India
is a nation of diverse circumstances and challenges.Our solutions
must also be diverse.Our digitization is a success because our
payment products cater to everyone.
For
those with mobile and internet, the BHIM-UPI is the world’s most
sophisticated, simpleand seamless platform for payments between
accounts, using a virtual payment address.
For
those who have a mobile, but no internet, there is U.S.S.D. system in
12 languages.
And,
for those who have neither mobile nor internet, there is Aadhar
Enabled Payment System, which uses biometrics. And, it has already
registered a billion transactions and grown six-fold in two years.
RuPay
is bringing payment cards within the reach of all.Over 250 million of
these are with those who did not have a bank account 4 years ago.
From
cards to QRs and wallets, digital transactions in India are growing
rapidly. Today, 128 banks in India are connected to UPI.
Transactions
on UPI grew 1500 times in the last 24 months. Every month, the value
of transaction is growing by over 30 percent.
But,
more than the pace, I am inspired by the opportunities, efficiency,
transparency and convenience that digital payment is generating.
A
shopkeeper can go online to reduce his inventory and speed up
collections.
For
a fruit grower, a farmer or a rural artisan , the markets are direct
and closer, earnings are higher,and payments are faster.
A
worker collects wages or remits money home quickly without giving up
a day’s work.
Every
digital payment saves time. It adds to a huge national saving. It is
increasing productivity of individuals and our economy.
It
also helps improve tax collection and inject fairness in the economy.
Even
more, digital payments are a gateway to a world of possibilities.
Data
Analytics and Artificial Intelligence are helping us build a whole
range of value added services for people.This includes credit to
those with little or no credit history.
Financial
inclusion also extends to micro, small and medium enterprises.
They
are all coming on the nation-wide Goods and Services Tax digital
network, launched just over a year ago.
Banks
are reaching out to them with credit. Alternative lending platforms
are offering innovative financing models. They no longer have to look
at informal markets for credit at high interest rates.
And,
just this month, we committed to approve loans up to Rupees 1 crore,
or one 150,000 dollars for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises within
59 minutes – without even visiting a bank. This is driven by an
algorithm that uses GST returns, Income Tax returns and bank
statements to make credit decisions. In just a few days, 150,000 such
enterprises have come on board for loans.
This
is the power of fintech to drive enterprise, employment and
prosperity.
Digital
technology is introducing transparency and eliminating corruption
through innovations such as the Government e-Marketor GEM. It is an
integrated platform for purchases by government agencies.
It
provides everything – search and comparison, tender, online
ordering, contract generation and payment.
It
already has 600,000 products.Nearly 30,000 buyer organisations and
more than 150,000 sellers and service providers are registered on the
platform.
Friends
There
is an explosion of fintech innovation and enterprise in India. It has
turned India into a leading fintech and Startup nation in the world.
The future of fintech and Industry 4.0 is emerging in India.
Our
youth are developing apps that are making the dream of paperless,
cashless, presence-less, and yet safe and secure, transactions
possible for all. That is the wonder of India Stack– simply the
largest set of Application Programming Interface in the world.
They
are using Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and machine learning to
create solutions for banks, regulators and consumers.
And,
they are also embracing our nation’s social missions – from
health and education to micro credit and insurance.
This
enormous talent pool in India benefits from the ecosystem created by
initiatives such as Digital India and Startup India, and by
supportive policies, incentives and funding programmes.
It
also helps that India has the largest data consumption in the world
and the cheapest rates for data.And one of the top nations in fintech
adoption. So, I say this to all the fintech companies and startups –
India is your best destination.
The
economies of scale achieved in India by the LED bulb industry allowed
this energy efficient technology to become more affordable globally.
Likewise, India’s vast market can enable fintech products to
achieve scale, reduce risks and costs, and go global.
Friends.
In
short, the Indian story shows six great benefits of fintech: Access
,inclusion; connectivity; ease of living; opportunity; and,
accountability.
Across
the world, from the Indo-Pacific to Africa to Latin America, we see
inspiring stories of extraordinary innovation changing ordinary lives
.
But,
there is much to be done.
Our
focus should be development of all, through , that is, development of
the most marginalised.
We
must bring the unbanked 1.7 billion people in the world into the
formal financial market.
We
must extend the security of insurance and pension to more than a
billion workers in the informal sectors worldwide, who still do not
have it.
We
can use fintech to ensure that no dream remains unfulfilled, and no
enterprise remains still born, because of lack of access to finance.
We
must make banks and financial institutions more resilient in managing
risks,fighting frauds and dealing with disruption of traditional
models.
We
have to use technology to improve compliance,regulation and
supervision, so that innovation flourishes and risks are contained.
We
must use fintech tools to combat money laundering and other financial
crimes.
The
emerging world of finance will succeed in our inter-connected world
when our data and systems are trusted and secure.
We
have to make our globally wired system safe from cyber threats.
We
must also ensure that the pace and the push of Fintech work to the
advantage of the people, not to their disadvantage; that technology
in finance ensures improvement of the human condition through direct
contact with the most marginalized.
We
also need to enhance awareness of the masses and educate them about
the opportunities which inclusive policies and use of technology open
up for them.
For
this,fintech will need to be not merely a mechanism but a movement.
And,
we have to address the inevitable questions of data ownership and
flow, privacy and consent; private and public good; law and ethics.
Finally,
we must invest in creating skills for the future. And, be prepared to
back ideas and invest for the long term.
Friends.
Each
era is defined by its opportunities and challenges.Each generation
has its responsibility to shape future.
This
generation will shape the futurein the palm of every hand in the
world.
At
no time in history were we blessed with so many possibilities:
to
make opportunities and prosperity a reality in a lifetime, for
billions.
to
make the world more humane and equal –between rich and poor,
between cities and villages, between hopes and achievements.
Just
as India will learn from others, we will share our experience and
expertise with the world.
Because,what
drives India also holds hope for others. And,what we dream for India
is what we also wish for the world.
This
is a common journey for all.
Like
the festival of light that calls us to spread light over
darkness,hope and happiness over despair,this festival calls us to
come together in pursuit of a better future for humanity.
Thank
you.