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Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister | Photo Credit: Dinesh Krishnan
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said fintech market in India is projected to reach $400 billion in four years. Various industry estimates peg market size at $110 billion in 2024.
“The fintech revolution in India will further flourish. Our fintech market is projected to grow to over $400 billion by 2028-29, reflecting an anticipated annual growth of over 30 per cent,” she said after giving away Digital Payments Awards 2025 here. Further, she said the scale of opportunity is “immense”. “I firmly believe its best chapters are yet to be written. Together, let us ‘Innovate, Include, and Inspire’. Innovate new solutions fearlessly, include every citizen in your vision, and inspire the world with what India can achieve,” she said.
Taking a cue from a World Bank study, she highlighted that through Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), India achieved an 80 per cent financial inclusion rate in just six years. “India now accounts for almost half of all real-time digital payment transactions — 48.5 per cent,” she said, while adding that in the world over 35 crore users are part of the UPI ecosystem.
During the pandemic, Payment apps became a lifeline – enabling contactless payments and doorstep banking when mobility was restricted. As per the RBI, India’s Digital Payments Index, which measures the overall usage of digital payments, has quadrupled in the last 5 years, from 100 in 2018 to 465 in 2024.
Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call about how India should ‘Make for the World’, the FM said Indian fintech innovations have the potential to become global public goods that can benefit other emerging and developed economies. This will open new markets for Indian firms. International merchant payments through UPI are now accepted at select merchant outlets in seven countries, including Bhutan, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the UAE. “Our players must aim to export our successful models abroad and capture global markets. We have the talent, we have the market scale, and we have the proven solutions,” she urged.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents an award to N Kamakodi MD & CEO, City Union Bank, during the Digital Payments Awards 2025 Ceremony in New Delhi on Wednesday
Appreciating the success of fintech players, Sitharaman said that the speed at which innovation is happening in India is just a dream for many other countries. “Several advanced countries are nowhere close to the kind of momentum our fintech companies have achieved, not just in terms of progress in their respective areas, but also in creating entirely new paradigms,” she said, adding that this is unique about the Indian fintech sector.
In just three years, nearly 700 entities as of FY25 across banking, insurance, securities, and pensions have joined the Account Aggregator (AA) platform, up from only 24 in FY22. The number of accounts linked through AA has soared to over 15 crore, compared to a mere 1.5 lakh in FY22 — driving loans worth over ₹88,700 crore and empowering nearly 1 crore personal finance management users, while lowering onboarding costs for intermediaries.
“Every fintech firm should view rural India as a fertile ground – not just as a social responsibility but as an opportunity to create new markets,” she said.
Published on June 18, 2025
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