Fintech in India – Trends and Transformation
- Tiara Moitra
- Mar 9, 2025
- 4 min read
India is among the fastest growing Fintech markets in the world, with it being estimated to be around USD 110 billion in 2024, and is expected to grow to an impressive USD 420 billion by 2029. Currently, there are over 9000 financial markets within India, and the latest projections show that India is set out to become the largest economy in the Asia – Pacific region by 2023. This is due to a number of factors, which include the regulatory framework of the government, coupled with increasing government policies in the country. The purpose of this article is to analyse the upcoming trends and transformation of the financial technology in the country[1].
The major contributor to the rise of fintech in the country is the digital revolution, the cause of which lies due to the factors that led to changes in the economy which gave rise to the need for financial technology markets that are easily accessible to its citizens. The digital innovation has brought in innovation that has led to better connectivity between devices, leading to the rise in usable data. The Covid-19 pandemic also led to an increase in the need for more digital transactions as there was a need for something to replace physical transactions between producers and consumers and in the processes that provide financial services. The pandemic led to the shift in digital services that was tangible as there has been a growth in the usage of digital payments and e-commerce since then. Countries such as India with policies that were more stringent in terms of Covid-19 saw an increase in the downloads of financial apps[2].
One of the most commonly used fintech in India is digital payments, which has grown from 220 crore in the year 2017-2018 to 18,592 crore in the year 2023-2024. India’s indigenously developed UPI and Razor pay are superior platforms and efforts are being made by the Government of India to promote these globally. UPI is currently being used in countries such as UAE, Singapore, and Bhutan and it is also being tested primarily in countries such as Nepal, Mauritius, France and Sri Lanka.
Efforts of ecosystem partners have led to a growth in digital payments acceptance infrastructure in the country, and has grown from 0.56 crore in the year 2017 to 2018 to 36.14 in the year 2024, as per RBI data.
There are also some upcoming fintech markets in India, that include markets for Open Banks and Application Programming Interfaces based eco systems. The purpose of Open Banking and APIs are to bring together the Aadhar Card, e-KYC, and UPI to create a seamless banking system that can even reach the rural areas, that often do not have access to financial services without having to physically go to banks and other financial institutions that provide such services. The next step is the introduction of the RBI’s account aggregator. This offers data sharing among users, upon user consent. The goal here is to obtain banking and transactional data that can be used to facilitate offerings that are more specialised to clients[3].
The cryptocurrency market in India is also projected to witness a growth in revenue, reaching a staggering number of US Dollars 6.6 bn by 2025.
A cryptocurrency is a virtual or digital currency that is used to purchase goods and services, which means that there is no physical coins or bills used for transactions and all transactions only take place online. Cryptocurrency is not controlled by a single entity, which makes it resistant to censorship and manipulation.
Cryptocurrency completely runs on blockchain technology, which gives it its decentralized status. It is a public ledger that maintains accounts of all transactions that have taken place within a network. Therefore, anyone on that network can see what transactions have taken place, which resolves the issue of double spending without having a monopoly authority[4].
The use of blockchain has given rise to the concept of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) which aims to eliminate the use of financial institutions like banks, so that decentralised users can have complete control over their finances.
The Government of India has taken a keen interest on blockchain technology by laying a groundwork on establishing a “National Blockchain Framework” which works towards building a national-level infrastructure on blockchain. It has envisioned enabling “Made in India” blockchain technology by 2027. There is also a rise in the acceptance and development of blockchain technology by states such as Tamil Nadu that has taken the initiative of “Tamil Nadu Blockchain Back” which intends to provide every citizen of Tamil Nadu unique state IDs which would consolidate all of their regular documents such as their academic and birth certificates into one single digital wallet.
The Uttar Pradesh government as well, has launched the “Firozabad Public Grievance Management System”, which is an online portal that is based on blockchain technology, to file and track complaints which would be free from threats of tampering and corruption.
The aforementioned initiatives that have been started by various states is only the tip of the iceberg as the introduction of blockchain technology in the agricultural, healthcare, financial, and law and order sector would be beneficial to meet the long-term goals of the country - which is financial and social inclusion. By taking the initiative of implementing this technology, it would eliminate those intermediaries that are extremely demanding in terms of time and effort spent by the general population in procuring services that are essential to them[5].
Governance in India faces unique challenges due to its population, which makes it subject to long drawn procedures and processes involving delivery of goods and services. Blockchain provides businesses with a platform to interact without going through regulatory compliances and oversight by allowing “self-regulation” and moving towards improving “ease of doing business”. As blockchain offers decentralisation, transparency and accountability, it would help in improving the ease of living[6].
[1] https://www.npci.org.in/PDF/npci/chairman-speeches/2024/Special-Keynote-Address-delivered-by-Shri-Ajay-Kumar-Choudhary-Non-Executive-Chairman-and-Independent-Director-NPCI-Aug-29-2024-5th-Global-Fintech-Fest-Mumbai.pdf
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