Global Fintech Fest (GFF) - 2026
The 7th Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026 in Mumbai brought
together global policymakers, regulators, and innovators to chart the future of
digital finance.
Centred around the theme of "Potential to Impact,"
the four-day mega-summit highlighted breakthrough deployments in AI, quantum
technology, and tokenisation.
Distinguished leaders from the government, banking sector,
and tech industry deliberated on scaling inclusive financial systems
responsibly and securely.
The event served as a monumental showcase of India's
indigenous digital public infrastructure, scaling new heights of global
leadership.
1. Prime Minister Modi's Inaugural
Address
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated GFF 2026 in Mumbai,
highlighting India's robust macroeconomic stability and rapid structural
reforms.
He emphasized that the nation's fintech journey serves as a
powerful catalyst for grassroots financial inclusion and economic empowerment.
The Prime Minister noted that India's growing risk-taking
capacity and startup momentum are steadily fuelling the vision of a Viksit
Bharat.
He urged industry leaders to convert advanced technological
possibilities into tangible, real-world societal impact.
2. UPI's Global Expansion and Milestones
Prime Minister Modi celebrated UPI's monumental 10th
anniversary, marking a decade of transforming how millions access financial
services.
Highlighting that UPI processes billions of transactions
monthly, he noted its successful live operations across eleven foreign
countries.
He urged the fintech sector to integrate domestic payment
systems with foreign networks to reduce international remittance costs.
The Prime Minister called for India to establish independent
global payment standards instead of relying on foreign architectures.
3. PM Modi's Four Strategic Priorities
PM Modi outlined four critical pillars for the future growth
of India's thriving fintech and digital ecosystem.
He prioritized achieving top-notch cybersecurity to safeguard
citizens against evolving digital threats and financial fraud.
He called for closer regulator-industry collaboration and the
establishment of transparent ethical data production standards.
Finally, he proposed creating a Fintech Consumer Protection
Index to allow customers to easily evaluate safety measures.
4. Finance Minister Sitharaman on
Demographic Dividend
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the
valedictory session, emphasizing India's active and unstoppable demographic
dividend.
She criticized pessimistic global evaluations that fail to
recognize how young Indians are driving economic momentum.
The Finance Minister highlighted that advanced DPI and UPI
are accelerating digital penetration across diverse economic sectors.
She urged stakeholders to measure industry success through
earned trust, problem-solving, and resilience rather than mere valuations.
5. Proposal for a Federated Industry
Platform
FM Sitharaman highlighted the necessity of establishing a
federated industry platform for India's broader technology ecosystem.
She noted that digital platforms are inherently borderless,
making foreign regulatory navigation challenging for early-stage startups.
Such a platform would provide the Indian technology sector
with a credible, collective international voice.
It would facilitate early engagement with foreign regulators
on licensing, cybersecurity, and cross-border compliance standards.
6. Addressing Frontier AI Risks and
Governance
The Finance Minister cautioned that frontier AI labs are
racing rapidly toward self-improving superintelligence systems.
She warned that autonomous AI agents could manipulate public
opinion, influence elections, or threaten national infrastructure.
She urged developers to construct AI systems that remain fast
yet accountable, and autonomous yet fully reversible.
Institutions must ensure that higher-risk applications face
stringent scrutiny throughout their operational life cycles.
7. Jyotiraditya Scindia's "Digital
Trinity" Framework
Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia
introduced the concept of the "new digital trinity" at GFF 2026.
He defined this trinity as the convergence of connectivity
infrastructure, advanced compute power, and absolute institutional trust.
Scindia stated that mobile phones have effectively evolved
into the new bank branches for millions of citizens.
He stressed that these three foundational pillars must
develop simultaneously to ensure ubiquitous technological access.
8. Telecom and 5G Infrastructure
Backbone
Scindia highlighted India's phenomenal telecom expansion,
noting that 5G has covered 99.9% of districts within 26 months.
The government's BharatNet program is actively working to
connect all 2.52 lakh gram panchayats with high-speed optical fibre.
Data costs in India have plummeted to around 10 cents per GB,
making the country a leading data capital.
This invisible telecom highway provides the foundational
infrastructure necessary for fintech and AI applications to scale.
9. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari emphasized that India is rapidly
transforming its mobility sector by moving toward fully digital and
barrier-free tolling systems.
He highlighted that the widespread adoption of FASTag has
already reduced vehicle waiting times at toll plazas by 80 to 90 percent.
He announced plans to operationalize a multi-lane free-flow
(MLFF) system to completely eliminate physical stoppages and drastically cut
down operational logistics costs.
Furthermore, he noted that integrating vehicle databases,
banking, and insurance data sets up a massive digital framework expected to
generate substantial economic and environmental dividends.
10.Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra
Fadnavis
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that
while the first generation of digital finance provided basic access, the next
wave must focus on giving citizens financial "agency".
He highlighted the transformational potential of agentic AI
to help small businesses and ordinary citizens navigate complex financial
decisions securely.
He announced that Maharashtra is actively developing a legal
framework (Delta Act) for blockchain-based tokenisation to unlock productive
capital from land and physical assets.
He strongly positioned Mumbai as an ideal real-world testing
ground and global laboratory for designing the next generation of responsible
financial technologies.
11.RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra on
Last-Mile Inclusion
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra urged fintech innovators to
leverage AI to reach populations still excluded from formal finance.
He stressed that connecting the "last man standing in
the queue" must remain the core objective of modern fintech.
Malhotra emphasized that trust is an operating asset built
transaction by transaction rather than a mere marketing strategy.
He warned growing fintech firms that they carry an obligation
to be "too significant to be careless" regarding resilience.
12.RBI Governor's Launch of UPI Tap
& Pay and MyUPI
RBI Governor Malhotra announced the launch of
customer-centric UPI innovations during the summit proceedings.
UPI 'Tap & Pay' was introduced on Point-of-Sale terminals
to streamline physical retail payment convenience.
MyUPI, a customer support solution powered by NPCI's Small
Language Model, was also unveiled for users.
These innovations aim to enhance payment safety, operational
transparency, and digital customer grievance handling.
13.SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on
SupTech
SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey championed the adoption of
supervisory technology (SupTech) for capital market regulation.
He stressed that innovation must scale without causing market
risks to escalate at a matching pace.
SEBI is actively utilizing data analytics and AI to
transition from basic automation to predictive market supervision.
Pandey noted that regulatory oversight must scale
proportionally with proximity to trading and investor outcomes.
14.SEBI's D-MAT 2.0 Tokenised Corporate
Bond Pilot
SEBI showcased its D-MAT 2.0 regulatory sandbox pilot
exploring tokenised corporate bond issuances.
The initiative integrates tokenised securities with digital
settlement assets using Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Three primary issuers successfully issued tokenized bonds
under the pilot, supported by major stock exchanges.
This framework establishes a programmable market architecture
where settlement and asset servicing occur simultaneously.
15.Nandan Nilekani on Public Chains for
Tokenisation
Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani stated that tokenisation at
population scale requires robust public chains and interoperability.
He noted that tokenisation must move beyond mere asset
issuance to create genuine market liquidity and transactions.
Nilekani showcased pilots demonstrating dairy asset
tokenisation and secure warehouse receipt securitization.
Public chains ensure that tokenized assets remain trustable,
portable, and widely acceptable across multiple lending institutions.
16.Nilekani's Vision for AI Agents and
Inclusion
Nilekani argued that AI agents will complement tokenization
by driving automated demand and continuous transactions.
He emphasized that digital agents will empower small
businesses by providing enterprise-grade financial capabilities.
Farmers can leverage portable warehouse receipts on public
chains to significantly enhance their market bargaining power.
The overarching goal of combining tokens and AI agents is to
drive profound economic inclusion.
17.NPCI's FiMI Small Language Model and
AiNxt Platform
NPCI exhibited cutting-edge technological platforms designed
for the next wave of enterprise banking.
It introduced FiMI, a purpose-built open-source 4-billion
parameter Small Language Model tailored for banking workflows.
NPCI also unveiled AiNxt, an enterprise-focused open-source
Agentic AI platform for developers and banks.
These tools enable financial institutions to build, test, and
deploy customized autonomous AI agents securely.
18.Secure Element Tokenisation Platforms
like Muse Wallet
GFF 2026 highlighted hardware-level tokenisation platforms
like Muse Wallet, incubated at IIT Madras.
Muse Wallet converts RuPay cards into secure digital tokens
stored inside tamper-resistant hardware chips.
The secure element ensures complete isolation of sensitive
credentials from mobile operating systems.
Users can perform instant contactless payments via smart
rings without exposing actual card numbers.
19.Real-World Tokenisation Pilots and
CBDC Integration
Finance Minister Sitharaman highlighted practical
tokenisation implementations during the summit exhibitions.
She cited Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) Limited's
tokenized bond pilot under SEBI's regulatory sandbox.
This pilot successfully executed simultaneous bond settlement
and payment using the Reserve Bank's digital rupee.
Such initiatives prove that tokenisation successfully reduces
intermediaries and enables instantaneous asset transfers.
20.Emerging Fintech Trend: The Rise of
Agentic AI
Agentic AI emerged as a core thematic focus at GFF 2026,
redefining automated business workflows.
Unlike reactive chatbots, agentic systems possess the
autonomy to sense, decide, and execute complex financial tasks.
Applications range from continuous fraud detection and
compliance monitoring to personalized investment advisory.
Industry reports project massive cost-to-serve reductions for
AI-native financial institutions.
21.Emerging Fintech Trend: Quantum
Technology Readiness
Quantum technology was highlighted as a transformative pillar
for future computational and cryptographic security.
Regulatory bodies like SEBI and RBI flagged quantum computing
as an impending risk for financial systems.
Financial institutions are urged to adopt crypto-agility and
migrate toward post-quantum cryptography.
Early integration aligns closely with India's National
Quantum Mission to secure future capital market infrastructure.
22.Sarvam AI on Sovereign and
Cost-Effective Infrastructure
Sarvam AI CEO Pratyush Kumar stressed the importance of
building indigenous AI infrastructure in India.
He noted India's unique advantage lies in delivering AI
computational power at a cost suitable for a billion people.
Sarvam showcased local server processing capabilities that
run specialized models cheaper than global counterparts.
Sovereign deployment ensures that sensitive financial data
remains secure within domestic regulatory boundaries.
23.India's Global Leadership in
Real-Time Payments
India solidified its position as a global fintech powerhouse,
accounting for nearly half of global real-time payments.
UPI transactions continue to smash records, crossing
monumental monthly volumes across participating banks.
International linkages with countries like Singapore have
normalized cross-border instant money transfers.
India's digital public infrastructure is increasingly being
adopted as a blueprint by emerging global economies.
24.Macroeconomic Stability and Sovereign
Rating Upgrades
Prime Minister Modi highlighted Japan's recent credit rating
agency upgrading India's sovereign rating to A.
This upgrade marked a historic milestone, occurring after a
span of three decades of economic development.
The rating reflects global confidence in India's
macroeconomic resilience, fiscal discipline, and policy continuity.
It reinforces international investor trust in the country's
accelerating reform trajectory.
25.Grassroots Credit Expansion via PM
SVANidhi
The summit emphasized the profound socio-economic impact of
targeted micro-credit schemes like PM SVANidhi.
The government's decision to extend PM SVANidhi until 2030
underscores its commitment to street vendors.
Digital transaction histories have enabled millions of
micro-entrepreneurs to access formal institutional credit.
Beneficiaries have experienced notable increases in average
annual income, stimulating grassroots economic growth.
26.Enhancing Consumer Protection and
Data Ethics
Leaders across the summit repeatedly stressed that rapid
technological expansion must not compromise consumer trust.
Regulators advocated for robust data ethics frameworks and
transparent operational accountability across fintech firms.
Financial fraud prevention mechanisms like the Financial
Fraud Risk Indicator are being integrated across banks.
The industry is actively shifting from post-fraud detection
models to proactive predictive defence mechanisms.
27.Future Outlook: Connected to
Empowered Finance
GFF 2026 concluded with a forward-looking consensus on
transitioning from digital connectivity to financial empowerment.
The convergence of telecom networks, public digital
infrastructure, and AI promises fully personalized financial services.
India aims to lead the world not just as a technology
consumer, but as a creator of global standards.
The shared vision envisions a secure, inclusive, and trusted
digital financial ecosystem for the entire world.
The Global Fintech Fest 2026 successfully demonstrated
India's leadership in shaping the next generation of digital finance.
By championing agentic AI, robust tokenisation frameworks,
and quantum readiness, the summit set a benchmark for global innovation.
Policymakers, regulators, and industry pioneers united to
ensure that future financial systems remain trusted, inclusive, and secure.
As India marches toward its Viksit Bharat goals, its
pioneering digital architecture continues to inspire global socioeconomic
transformation.
