MUMBAI, SEP 8 (AGENCIES): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India’s “reform express” would move forward at an even faster pace, as he highlighted the country’s fintech growth, UPI’s global expansion and the opportunities presented by emerging technologies.
Addressing the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026 in Mumbai, PM Modi described India’s fintech journey as “remarkable” and said the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) had been one of its biggest drivers.
“I will reiterate that India’s reform express will move forward at an even faster pace. Friends, India’s fintech story has been remarkable, and one of its biggest champions is our UPI,” the PM said.
Modi said the scale of UPI’s transformation was such that any discussion on India’s fintech sector would remain incomplete without mentioning the digital payments platform.
“Whenever we talk about fintech, the discussion would remain incomplete without UPI,” he said.
Modi also highlighted India’s economic growth, saying the economy expanded 7.8 per cent in the first quarter despite the West Asia conflict putting pressure on energy and commodity supply chains.
“Even in these circumstances, when India grows at 7.8 per cent, it gives the world a new sense of confidence,” he said.
The Prime Minister also pointed to India’s improved sovereign rating, saying a Japanese credit rating agency had recently upgraded India’s sovereign rating to the A category.
He described the upgrade as another sign of growing confidence in the Indian economy.
Modi’s 4 priorities for fintech sector: Looking ahead, Modi said the financial sector was entering a period of significant technological change, with agentic AI, tokenisation and quantum technologies creating new possibilities.
“The first quarter of the 21st century has ended. We are in 2026. The second quarter has brought in even more possibilities,” he said.
He urged fintech companies to turn these emerging technological possibilities into practical solutions and outlined four areas that he said should be prioritised.
- Stronger cybersecurity: Modi called for India to build “top-notch” cybersecurity to protect its rapidly expanding digital financial ecosystem.
- Ethical data protection standards: He said the fintech industry should develop its own ethical standards for data protection.
- A stronger fintech innovation ecosystem: Modi called for a stronger ecosystem involving fintech companies, regulators and industry stakeholders to promote innovation in the financial sector.
- Fintech Consumer Protection Index: Modi also proposed a Fintech Consumer Protection Index that could enable transparent ratings of fintech companies based on consumer protection standards.
He said such an index could help create greater transparency and strengthen consumer confidence in the sector.