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The Indian fintech industry is projected to reach $420 billion by 2029, at a cumulative annual growth rate of 31 per cent from around $110 billion this year, Ajay Kumar Choudhary, non-executive chairman and independent director, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said on Thursday. 

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of Assocham's second 'India International Fintech Festival' in the national capital, Choudhary said the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has gone global and the India Stack's flagship offering is now available at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Galeries Lafayette's flagship store in Haussmann ahead of Paris Olympics and certain countries in the Middle East.

"In Singapore, nearly 26,000 can drivers are using the UPI. In the UAE, many merchants are now using the UPI mode of payment. Nepal has also started UPI. In India, UPI payments are breaking all records and you will see exponential growth in the years to come," Choudhary told IANS.

"NPCI has also set an ambitious target of achieving 1 billion UPI transactions per day in the coming years," he added.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the event, Choudhary informed that with over 9,000 fintech entities, India ranks third globally and commands 14 per cent of startup funding in the country.

"The adoption rate of fintech in India is 87 per cent, which is much above the global average of 67 per cent," he told the gathering.

According to Anand Vijay Jha, Chairman, Assocham Fintech Council, we need to be much more focused on delivering values to attract investors to the ecosystem.

"India's strong position in digital public infrastructure is rooted in public-private partnership. With multiple stakeholders in the ecosystem, the role of policymakers and regulators assumes greater significance," said Jha.

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.

According to Archana Vohra, Managing Director, Google, the 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.

"What brought us here will not take us ahead, so we need to be persistent, and resilient and make sure that the next 10 to 15 years help us go deeper into the fintech space," said Vohra.

Vikas Verma, COO, Mastercard said that 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.