Mumbai, October 10th, 2025: “India was able to achieve in nine years what would have taken 47 years under normal circumstances. It’s a great example of acceleration that has happened in the country, said Mr. Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Infosys, highlighting the significant impact of Jan Dhan Yojana, at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2025, being held at the Jio World Centre, Mumbai, from October 7 to 9. He was addressing a session titled ‘Finternet – Building the Digital Infrastructure for the World.’
GFF 2025 is organised by the Payments Council of India (PCI), the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC).
He said, “What you’re seeing is technology, government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Payments Council of India (NPCI), and all the private innovators working together to achieve this.”
Talking about digital inclusion and financial empowerment, Mr. Nilekani said, “India has over 1.43 billion Aadhaar card holders, 600 million DigiLocker users, and more than 20 billion UPI transactions per month.” All these, he said, showed how India’s digital public infrastructure had massively expanded access to financial services, identity verification, and government programmes.
Regarding Finternet, he said, “It is India’s ambitious vision to build a global digital infrastructure that integrates tokenisation, artificial intelligence (AI), and regulated financial systems.” Finternet, he said, represented a structured, scalable, and compliant approach to tokenisation and digital asset management, creating a future where individuals and businesses could unlock the potential of their assets, participate in new markets, and realise their aspirations.
“Finternet is expanding across 20 ecosystems in four continents, with live implementations across multiple sectors expected by 2026,” Mr. Nilekani added.
Emphasising the importance of tokenisation of assets, he said that any asset, from gold and property to securities, could be digitised, verified, and transacted programmatically within a fully regulated framework, enabling ordinary citizens to leverage their wealth, access credit, and participate in new economic opportunities.
Regarding global integration, Mr. Nilekani said, “India is now improving cross-border payments and planning global adoption of digital assets, making the Indian digital ecosystem more connected with the world.”
GFF 2025 is supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; the Department of Economic Affairs and the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance; the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry; New, Emerging and Strategic Technology Division, the Ministry of External Affairs; the Reserve Bank of India (RBI); the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
This year’s GFF theme is ‘Empowering Finance for a Better World Powered by AI.’