World’s Biggest Virtual Global Fintech Fest saw Participation from Over 12000 attendees from over 110 countries

Global Fintech Fest which (GFF) organised by Fintech Convergence Council (FCC), Payments Council of India (PCI) and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on 22^nd & 23^rd July’2020 had witnessed participation from more than 10k delegates out of which around 30% were from international community, representation from over 110+ countries and participation from 160+ speakers out of which 30 were women speakers and 45 international speakers. In addition to this, there were 75 Indian & International Exhibitors showcasing their products and services in the two-day fest with 27000+ unique booth visits by attendees.

Global Fintech Festival has brought together representatives of banking, financial technology and investment industries from across the globe to host impactful dialogues, public discussions and a curated exhibition of the latest disruptive technologies.

NPCI also launched UPI AutoPay feature for recurring payments & RuPay commercial card for entrepreneurs and business owners at GFF. The event also released report titled “Empowering payments: Digital India on the path of revolution” in association with PWC & “India FinTech Report (2nd edition)” in association with MEDICI.

The event had seen participation from stalwarts of the Fintech Industry namely Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog, Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, Infosys, Uday Kotak, Managing Director & CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, State Bank of India, V Vaidyanathan, Managing Director & CEO, IDFC First Bank, K Rajaraman, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Justice BN Srikrishna, Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India, P Vasudevan, CGM - Department of Payment and Settlement Systems (DPSS), Reserve Bank of India, Dilip Asbe, Managing Director & CEO, National Payments Corporation of India, Sachin Bansal, Co-Founder & CEO, Navi,  Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO, Paytm, Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital, Anna Maj, FinTech Leader & Advisor, The World Business Angels Investment Forum & European Innovation Council, Mahesh Uttamchandani, Global Practice Manager, FCI GP, World Bank Group, Nnenna Nnoli, Chief Financial Officer, Aspiration US, Vibha Padalkar , Managing Director & CEO, HDFC Life, T S Anil, Chief Executive Officer, Monzo Bank, Tilman Ehrbeck, Managing Partner, Flourish Ventures, Surina Shukri, Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, G Mahalingam, Whole - Time Member, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Yashish Dahiya, Co-Founder & Group CEO, PolicyBazaar, Charles Delingpole, Founder & CEO, Comply Advantage, Herve Tourpe, Head of Digital Advisory, International Monetary Fund, Dr. Christopher Sier, UK Treasury Fintech Envoy and Chairman, Fintech North, Myles Bertrand, Managing Director, Mambu, Nobutake Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, MUFG Innovation Partners and many more.

About Fintech Convergence Council (FCC)

FCC is formed under Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and represents the FinTech industry and traditional companies in the BFSI space. The purpose of the council is to encourage collaboration, seek complementarities and build synergy between leading BFSI companies and the emerging FinTech start-ups. The council has worked towards interpreting the regulatory and legal framework, aggregating the concerns and feedback of the various players within the larger FinTech community, communicating it to regulators and lawmakers, and organizing events and gatherings for the industry participants to meet, share ideas and work together in the interest of creating a safer, more open and more collaborative operating environment through a transparent forum.

About NPCI

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. NPCI has created a robust payment and settlement infrastructure in the country. It has changed the way payments are made in India through a bouquet of retail payment products such as RuPay card, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), BHIM Aadhaar, National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC Fastag) and Bharat BillPay. NPCI also launched UPI 2.0 to offer a more secure and comprehensive services to consumers and merchants.

NPCI is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through use of technology and is relentlessly working to transform India into a digital economy. It is facilitating secure payments solutions with nationwide accessibility at minimal cost in furtherance of India’s aspiration to be a fully digital society.

India to Contribute ~2.2% of the World’s Digital Payment Market By 2023: Report By Pci & Pwc

UPI and AePS to clock 59bn & 2467 mn in volume by 2023 

PCI & PWC released a report titled ‘Empowering payments: Digital India on the path of revolution' at GLOBAL FINTECH FEST (GFF) 2020 

• Global digital payments market expected to grow at a CAGR of 23.8% to reach USD 12.4 trillion in transaction value by 2025
• Digital and mobile wallets - the preferred mode of payment for ecommerce transactions, accounted for ~42% of the total spending globally 
• Over 49 countries have increased the transaction limits on contactless payments, since the start of the pandemic 
• UPI, the largest real-time payment systems in the world today, clocking over 1bn transactions every month, volume to reach ~59bn by 2023 Top 20 deals in Indian Fintech in 2019 were approx. USD 2 billion; deals for payment companies comprised ~66% of the total in terms of value 

The ‘Empowering payments: Digital India on the path of revolution' report - a comprehensive study on the digital payments industry was released today at the Virtual Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2020 jointly by the Payments Council of India (PCI) and PWC. One of the key findings of the report is how the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a massive opportunity for the digital payments industry to flourish. With global transaction value for digital payments expected to reach $12.4 trillion by 2025, India is expected to contribute ~2.2% of the world’s digital payment market by 2023 alone. 

Showcasing the grandeur of the India story, the report highlights how UPI, Bharat QR and mobile wallets have ensured last-mile connectivity, covering small merchants, tea-sellers and even hawkers. Underlining UPI, among the largest real-time payment systems in the world, the report estimates the home-grown platform to reach nearly ~59 bn in volume by 2023 owing to its high P2P type of transaction penetration. Clocking over 1bn transactions every month, the platform has witnessed a CAGR of ~785% in volume and ~570% in terms of value from financial year (FY) 2017 to FY 2020. 

The report states that - India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world, showing rapid progression in transformation of digital payments, largely due to its large population and demographics. It has been attracting significant investments from private equity / venture capital firms and other international payment companies that want to enter India in the near future. 

Among other top-rung digital products in the country, it stated - Bharat QR and Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) QR, has also gained significant traction in the Indian market. Bharat bill payment system (BBPS) has shown remarkable growth with a CAGR of ~1,590% in volume and 

~1,650% in value from FY 2017 to FY 2020. AePS on the other hand has been a game-changer for the government in fulfilling its goal of financial inclusion, and its adoption will only continue to grow in the coming years. The platform witnessed growth of ~253% in volume and ~264% in value and is expected to clock transactions worth 2467 mn and 7289 mn in volume and value respectively by FY23. 

According to the report, India has been identified as a leader across parameters - regulation of costs of payment systems, laws in place, availability of alternate payment systems, share of e- money in payment systems, oversight by the Central Government, fast payment systems available in the country, volume and growth of e-money, etc. 

The report also underlined the huge impact of the pandemic on the industry. With the sharp rise in demand for contactless increasing, businesses are looking at integrating their online and offline channels to provide an omni-channel experience to its customers. From the statistics of UPI, BBPS and NETC for the months of February to June 2020, the report suggested that a Vshaped recovery in the digital payment sector is being prompted. 

According to the report, the global payment sector has been shaped by five trends -- increasing degree of collaboration between fintech players, payment service providers and banks, the emergence of BigTech as viable payment option, modernisation of payment systems by leveraging new age technologies like AI/ML, RPA etc., regulatory reforms and evolving customer needs and the ability to deliver contextualized and personalized payment options, leveraging data. These trends have shaped the progress of payments globally and will be driving force behind the future of digital payments. 

The report further highlighted that with collaborative efforts of the government, regulator and payment companies, the payments ecosystem is expected to improve in the future. The consumers would also play a crucial role in this transformation at the backdrop of increasing awareness and trust in the digital payment methods. India is expected to continue to serve as a global benchmark for countries in their endeavour of going towards a less-cash based economy. 

About Payments Council of India (PCI)

Payments Council of India (PCI) is a part of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and represents more than 100 players in the payments and settlement systems. Its objective is to address and help resolve various industry level issues and barriers which require discussion and action. The important stakeholders are prepaid payment issuers, payments banks, merchant aggregators and acquirers, payments networks, BBPOUs, UPI facilitators and international remittances facilitators. PCI works closely with the regulators i.e. Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Finance Ministry and any similar government, departments, bodies or Institution to make ‘India a less cash society’.

Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) will Revolutionise Micro Lending: Nandan Nilekeni

The first day of Global Fintech Fest 2020 - the largest two-day, virtual fintech meet-up witnessed the grand confluence of industry veterans and thought leaders in the Fintech & BFSI ecosystems across the globe. The two-day fest is organised by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Fintech Convergence Council (FCC) and Payments Council of India (PCI).

Speaking at the largest two-day, virtual fintech meet-up – Global Fintech Fest 2020, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said the future of lending will be Phygital. Betting big on digital lending he stated the latter will be the next big driver in fintech, driven by retail loans. Digital lending will constitute 50% of total lending by 2023. Kant said that the financial technology sector has been the shining star of India’s startup and technology ecosystem, enabling seamless transition from physically connected to a physically distant but socially connected environment.   

Addressing the delegates, Nandan Nilekani - Co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, Infosys stated that democratising credit in India is the need of the hour as he captured the remarkable journey of the Indian fintech industry which had now become a global hot bed for innovation. According to him, for reviving the economy India needs to kick-start consumption, offer credit a larger role whilst lubricating small businesses with capital. 

India needs to go that extra mile in offering credit to the most deserving, smallest businesses and individuals. With most credit directed to large companies in large volumes, smaller companies and micro enterprises are left in the lurch with little or no access to credit at all which is a huge concern for the next growth phase of the industry he said. According to Nilekani, Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) which enables to connect lenders to marketplaces and thereby to borrowers is a technology system, currently under discussion. If implemented, the technology can democratise lending to micro enterprises and street vendors in a big way.

Moreover, with the cost of lending being too high, small value loans become unfeasible. He therefore suggested, account aggregator service protocols developed and backed by RBI can be the game changer. While it can be implemented across fintech firms like wealth management, broking and banking, he highlighted the fact that the latter, most importantly and immediately, needs to be implemented in lending so the well-deserving smaller and micro businesses are able to opt for loans. 

Citing the examples of home-grown innovations such as – UPI and AEPS, he highlighted the fact that there is a need to realise that public systems need to be designed keeping in mind not just the top 50 million users but the 1 billion users, the masses. 

State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar said “Mobile banking may become the most preferred banking channel, even more than internet banking, in the days to come. Out of 100 transactions at SBI, only 9 transactions are being made in branches. While transactions at ATMs at the time of demonetisation were around 55 per cent, now they are down to around 30 per cent and digital, mobile banking has seen a rise from 25-30 to 55 per cent now. Going ahead it is going to be internet banking and mobile banking that will flourish, Kumar said delivering a key note address at the Global Fintech Fest.

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. We appreciate the concerted efforts of the government authorities in offering the necessary tailwinds in promoting the industry.” 

Earlier in the day, Naveen Surya, Chairman, Fintech Convergence Council said “India, currently, is a very fertile ground for the progression of collaborations between banks and fintech, accelerating the growth of nascent sectors like - neo-banking and digital lending. The role of non-banks in growth of UPI, BBPS and PPI has been sizeable. The phenomenal funding and global attention attracted by sectors like – payments, lending and wealth-tech speaks volumes of the kind of impact the Indian fintech has had on the society and the world at large. With low-cost, high-volume transactions across payment technology, digital banking and lending, fintech has helped serve millions in a way that the legacy systems couldn’t. Aadhaar kyc and video kyc is the future and will pick up pace extensively in the near term.”

The Global Fintech Fest has witnessed a participation from 50+ countries, 100+ speakers and 10000+ registered delegates in attendance. Significantly, 45% are international speakers and 30% women speaker participation. Of the total delegate participation, around 30% are from international community. In addition, there are 75 Indian and international 75 exhibitors showcasing their products and services in the two-day fest. Global Fintech Festival has brought together representatives of banking, financial technology and investment industries from across the globe to host impactful dialogues, public discussions and a curated exhibition of the latest disruptive technologies.

About Fintech Convergence Council (FCC)

FCC is formed under Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and represents the FinTech industry and traditional companies in the BFSI space. The purpose of the council is to encourage collaboration, seek complementarities and build synergy between leading BFSI companies and the emerging FinTech start-ups. The council has worked towards interpreting the regulatory and legal framework, aggregating the concerns and feedback of the various players within the larger FinTech community, communicating it to regulators and lawmakers, and organizing events and gatherings for the industry participants to meet, share ideas and work together in the interest of creating a safer, more open and more collaborative operating environment through a transparent forum.