Indian fintech industry set to soar to $420 billion by 2029, says NPCI Chairman Choudhary

India’s fintech industry is projected to grow at a cumulative annual growth rate of 31 per cent to about $420 billion by 2029, Ajay Kumar Choudhary Non-Executive Chairman and Independent Director, NPCI, has said.

As of 2024, the fintech industry is estimated to be about $110 billion, Choudhary said at the inaugural session of the 2nd India International Fintech Festival, organised by ASSOCHAM in the capital on Thursday. 

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Boasting over 9,000 fintech entities, India ranks third globally in terms of the highest number of fintech entities and commands 14 per cent of start-up funding in the country, Choudhary said. 

The adoption rate of FinTech in India is 87 per cent, which is much above the global average of 67 percent, he added. 

“The Indian fintech ecosystem is expected to continue to proliferate, driven by factors like favourable policies, development and existence of enabling DPIs, institutional support, and technological innovations. 

The government’s push towards a digital economy, coupled with a young and tech-savvy population, is likely to propel the fintech sector to new heights. NPCI has also set an ambitious target of achieving 1 billion UPI transactions per day in the coming years”, Choudhary said. 

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Archana Vohra, Managing Director, Google said, “UPI is not just a set of tech rails, it is an infinite amount of work to make sure that making digital payments is easily accessible. Interoperability needs to be true in letter and spirit. It has been amazing to see the economic enablement and the ecosystem enablement that has come with UPI. Fintech products need to be built for scale and a vastly different cohort of users. Everybody doesn’t use an app the same way. It is important for us We need to realise the nuance of India and solve this locally. What brought us here will not take us ahead, so we need to be persistent, resilient, and make sure that the next 10 to 15 years help us go deeper into the fintech space.”

Aman Jain, Director of Public Policy, Amazon India said, “Smartphone penetration, growing internet access and the government’s commitment to financial inclusion would be contributing towards about $10 trillion in overall digital payments volume in India by 2026. While 60% of millennials and GenZ prefer digital payments, digital payments have also penetrated small towns underscoring the immense potential for growth and inclusion as FinTech solutions become more accessible to consumers”.

Vikas Verma, COO of Mastercard, said “Access to credit is one of the fundamental catalysts that is propelling India towards its Viksit Bharat vision and FinTechs can enable access to credit for the underserved segments of our society.”.

Today only 14 percent of MSMEs have access to any formal form of credit. In agriculture, just one in four farmers have access to any formal source of credit and this is after 70 years of India’s Independence, he noted. 

“A lot of financial work and the foundational rails have been laid by the government, and this is an opportune time for the fintech sector to get involved in key sectors such as the farm sector, the MSME sector, and empowerment of women, where they can drive commercial success for themselves, as well as be able to contribute to nation building”, Verma added.