Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that tech should be used for global good and not weaponised at a time when there is rapid progress in new technology development and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“The simple motive is that it should be for the public good, and at no point in time should it get weaponised. It is important to constantly remind ourselves that technology cannot be in that sense truly mastered, but having obtained some proprietary rights over some parts of it, we should refrain from weaponising it,” she said.
Sitharaman was speaking at the inaugural session of the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai. She also warned against the misuse of new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and pointed to the rise of deepfakes.
The Finance Minister said that fintech in India was no longer a niche for urban convenience, but a nationwide enabler of economic progress. She highlighted how technology had enabled financial inclusion, highlighting the Rs 56 crore Jan dhan bank accounts that had been opened over the last decade. She also stressed the over 18,500 crore UPI transactions worth Rs 261 lakh crore in the 2024-25 financial year.
She also noted that the government had been able to save Rs 4.31 lakh crore through direct benefit transfers. Nearly half of the world’s real-time digital transactions were now happening in India, she added.
Addressing fintech executives at the GFF, she said that as millions joined the formal financial system, the focus should go beyond innovation towards trust, safety, and inclusion. Speed and scale should walk hand-in-hand with safety, she said.
Foreign currency settlement system launched
Sitharaman on Tuesday launched the foreign currency settlement system in GIFT City in Gujarat, a move that is expected to facilitate seamless real-time transactions.
Transactions in foreign currency by entities in IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) are currently settled through the correspondent banking arrangements, which is routed through different participants and multiple banks, and such transactions are usually settled with a lag of up to 36-48 hours, pointed out Sitharaman.
“The foreign currency settlement system that gets launched today seeks to facilitate seamless settlement of foreign currency transactions within IFSC on a real-time or near real-time basis, enhancing liquidity management and operational resilience,” she noted.
With the operationalisation of the foreign currency settlement system, GIFT City will join a select list of financial centres, including Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Manila, among others, that have the infrastructure to settle foreign currency locally.
Scaling GCCs
Over the last few years, many companies have set up their global capability centres in India and the segment is growing rapidly. Sitharaman said that the government has been working to strengthen the factors that support the functioning of GCCs. India offers an unparalleled opportunity for fintech GCCs to scale innovation as the country has a deep talent base and favourable policies, she said. India’s GCC landscape has evolved from cost-arbitrage hubs into high-value engineering, research, and innovation centres, especially in financial services, she added.
