Global Fintech Fest 2026 showcased the next phase of India's fintech evolution, drawing more than 100,000 attendees, 8,500 institutions, 350 exhibitors, 500 investors and over 1,200 speakers between September 8-11. As reported by ETBFSI, the event highlighted agentic UPI payments, sovereign AI and tokenized assets - innovations that signal a shift towards intelligent, programmable financial services. Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the challenge ahead: "Now the challenge before us is how to turn these possibilities into real impact." The focus has moved beyond transaction processing to delegating financial decisions to software, letting AI resolve complaints, assess credit, and in some cases, make payments on behalf of users.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for India's fintech revolution to move beyond payments towards credit expansion during the Global Fintech Fest. According to reports from Business Standard, Modi emphasized the need for fintech firms to broaden their offerings and work on greater financial inclusion. The Prime Minister specifically highlighted the importance of using digital-transaction histories to understand the needs of very small businesses, marking a significant shift in the government's fintech strategy. Modi noted that "Now we can make our own rules and standards and connect them with the world," as reported by ETBFSI, while India's Commerce Secretary suggested fintech exports could eventually grow from about $8 billion to between $60 billion and $80 billion. The government's focus on "people-centric governance, inclusion and public value" positions India as a global leader in shaping the future of digital finance.
The underlying payment infrastructure demonstrates remarkable growth potential for credit assessment. UPI processed 23.66 billion transactions worth $311.4 billion in July 2026, with monthly volumes crossing 24 billion transactions by August. As reported by ETBFSI, the network is now connected to 741 banks and operates in 11 countries. This substantial scale of the payment network creates extensive digital records of economic activities that could significantly enhance borrower assessment capabilities for lenders. Amazon Pay introduced Smart Wallet, allowing AI agents to make UPI payments for users, initially when booking flight tickets, with plans to extend to additional merchants and use cases.
BharatPe launched an AI assistant for merchants that connects with more than 60 live systems, handling complaints, chargebacks, and product recommendations based on merchant history. CEO Nalin Negi stated: "With BharatPe Agentic AI, we are moving beyond answering questions to helping merchants get things done." Perfios demonstrated AI agents for credit assessment, while other fintech products focused on automated underwriting, compliance, customer support and fraud detection. NPCI introduced FiMI Banking, a compact sovereign AI model designed for Indian retail-banking applications, with HDFC Bank as the initial partner. The model will release benchmarks that institutions can use to test banking agents for safety and appropriate behavior.
The convergence of government vision, payment infrastructure scale, and AI capabilities creates significant opportunities for financial inclusion. As reported by ETBFSI, RBI Deputy Governor Shirish Chandra Murmu emphasized: "Technology can distribute a service, but it cannot distribute responsibility." The extensive digital records generated by UPI's growing consumer and business adoption could potentially help lenders assess borrowers who remain poorly served by conventional credit systems. Bharat Connect soft-launched multicurrency foreign-exchange services, initially supporting the euro, pound, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and UAE dirham, pointing to transforming UPI from a domestic money-transfer rail into a platform for financial services and cross-border commerce. India's Financial Inclusion Index increased from 43.4 in March 2017 to 70.0 in March 2026, demonstrating the sector's measurable impact on financial inclusion. However, the industry still lacks basic infrastructure, including no single comprehensive registry of active fintech companies.
