FM Nirmala Sitharaman signals policy aid to fintechs in Pine Labs visit

Sitharaman may visit more fintech companies and global capability centres across major cities

In a signal that the government wants to understand the issues faced by the fintech sector and help it grow, Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday visited the office of digital fintech company Pine Labs in Noida and interacted with their employees. The FM highlighted that the government wants every state to speed up efforts on digitisation.

 

Sources in the government said that the FM is likely to visit more fintech companies and global capability centres (GCCs) in different cities, including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The feedback being gathered is likely to feed into the next set of big-ticket reforms and also the Budget for the next financial year, sources said.

 

“We want every state to speed up digitisation. We are also helping them in expediting it. While giving the 50-year interest-free loans to states for capital expenditure, we underline that we will incentivise those states that get on to digitise their records at the earliest. So, we want digitisation to happen sooner and in every sector,” Sitharaman said.

 

She said there was momentum on the ground towards digitisation but it needs to be raised to higher levels.

 

Sources in the finance ministry said that the government wants to make supportive policies for the fintech sector in the times to come. The government also wants to find ways to help the fintech industry take India’s innovative solutions overseas to different economies. 

 

Responding to a question on comparing the Indian economy to a woman, Sitharaman said there is no struggle unless she chooses to have a struggle for herself. “She needs a lot of support, no doubt. She is just touching 30, a highly productive age where a certain level of maturity sets in but can be at a threshold where some insecurity can come in. But, nothing to worry… India has given scope to education. There is no country where women have the freedom that they have here,” the FM said.

 

Citing the example of Operation Sindoor, Sitharaman said India acted as a determined woman who would not allow her citizens to suffer.

 

A post by Sitharaman’s office on social media platform X talked about how the FM, during her visit, acknowledged the contribution being made by fintech firms towards expanding the country's digital public infrastructure and also enabling seamless, secure and inclusive financial services for merchants and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises).

 

In another post, the FM’s office highlighted an interaction with Kuldeep Chauhan, a mobile retailer from Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district, and how he had seen remarkable growth in his business due to the widespread adoption of digital payments across the country.

 

In his post, Amrish Rau, chief executive officer (CEO) of Pine Labs, said: “Today was an exciting and unbelievable day. We got an opportunity to host our Hon. Finance Minister@nsitharaman to explore & understand ideas in Fintech! It was a full house and our FM was completely immersed in her interactions and Tech discussions!”

 

Building digital public infrastructure has been high on the government’s agenda to accelerate financial inclusion.

 

An earlier report on digital public infrastructure by India’s G20 task force had said that it should be universally applicable but nations should be able to use plug-and-play models to keep intact their sovereignty and data ownership.

 

The report, finalised during India’s G20 presidency, gave examples such as the API Setu and open APIs, published by India’s Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN). API stands for application programming interface.

 

In February 2024, heads of fintech firms, including Pine Labs, were invited by the FM to discuss ongoing regulatory issues in the fintech sector.