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India has emerged as one of the most robust FinTech economies in the world with landmark innovations in secure payment systems and gateways, paperless lending, mobile banking and wallets and other innovations which are driving the country's digital transformation. India's FinTech sector, currently the third largest and third highest funded globally, trailing only the USA and China, is poised to emerge as a global leader.

Against this backdrop, World Trade Center Mumbai and All India Association of Industries are set to host the 9th edition of their flagship event, the Global Economic Summit, themed "FinTech: Accelerating the Digital Revolution," from August 8-10, 2024. The Summit will discuss pathways and strategies to meet the unmet credit needs of MSMEs, women entrepreneurs and under-served communities through digital solutions such as paper-less credit, account aggregator framework, cash-flow based funding, alternative credit scoring methods and so on. World-over, central banks are encouraging their traditional banks to deploy technologies to promote digital supply chain financing for MSMEs and digital payments.

According to the UK Sinha-led Expert Committee of RBI, MSME sector faces credit gap to the extent of Rs. 20-25 lakh crore and fintech can be a key enabler of credit accessibility and affordability for small scale enterprises.

Highlighting the importance of this Summit, Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai remarked “India has the fastest growing fintech industry in the world and the Summit will add further momentum to this growth by connecting local companies to their global counterparts, fostering opportunities for investment, exchange of technology and business partnerships. This also aligns with the government’s initiative to take India’s fintech innovations such as UPI to the global market.”

The Summit is supported by ONDC, an open e-commerce network backed by Government of India, Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI) and Atal Incubation Centre – RMP. The event is co-sponsored by IDBI Bank. In order to facilitate cross-border collaboration for Indian fintech startups, WTC Mumbai has garnered the support of Geneva-based global e-trade facilitator World Trade Point Federation and International Digital Economy Association (IDEA) which represents 25 countries across Africa, Middle East and Asia and FinTech Belgium.

The key highlights of the Summit are Conference, Exhibition, Networking Session, and Awards Ceremony.  The Summit will be an ideal platform for delegates and around 100 exhibitors to showcase their products and services among more than 5,000 visitors and 300 delegates from 10 countries, including policymakers, regulators, diplomatic corps and fintech industry leaders.

The Conference will be addressed by distinguished experts/bankers like Mr. P. Vasudevan, Executive Director, RBI; Ms. Amor Maclang, Co-Founder, International Digital Economies Association (IDEA); Dr. Dirk Zetzsche, Professor of Financial Law, University of Luxembourg; Mr. T Koshy, CEO, ONDC; Mr. Jatinder Handoo, CEO, Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI) and other fintech leaders from India and around the World.

The Summit will also host notable speakers like: Mr. Makoto Shibata, Head & Chief Community Officer, FINOLAB Inc; Mr. Mihir Gandhi, Partner and Leader, Payments Transformation, PwC India; Mr. Hrushikesh Mehta, Senior Vice President - Financial Services, ONDC; Mr. Ajay Rajan, Country Head- Transaction Banking, Yes Bank; Mr. Amit Purohit, VP and Head - Digital Business, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC; Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, Co-Founder and Director, Moneyview; Mr. Manish Lunia, Co-Founder, Flexiloans; Ms. Shilpa Mankar Ahluwalia, Senior Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas; Dr. Pawan Bakhshi, India Lead- Inclusive Financial Systems, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Mr. Sashank Rishyasringa, Co-founder, Axio; Mr. Jaideep Pawar, Founder & CEO, GRAMePAY; Ms. Smita Jha, Partner, Khaitan & Co; Mr. Mandar Agashe, Founder, Managing Director & Vice Chairman, Sarvatra Technologies.

These speakers will discuss and deliberate on evolving market trends, critical emerging technologies, public digital infrastructure, frictionless lending, guardrails, compliance procedures and investment outlook.

Pointing out the relevance of the Summit theme, Ms. Rupa Naik, Executive Director, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai said, “The fast-growing fintech sector has transformed the lives of millions of consumers and businesses, ranging from self-employed persons to women entrepreneurs and large corporate houses. Fintech is the key driver of financial inclusion, gender equality, easy access to credit in rural areas and sustainable development goals.”

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