The following is a wider digital and fintech sector overview in the world’s largest country by population – India.
What began as a drive for financial inclusion has evolved into one of the world’s most sophisticated digital public infrastructure ecosystems, reshaping how over a billion people engage with finance.
India stands as the world’s fifth-largest economy, with gross domestic product (GDP) estimated at approximately $3.9trillion. Its economic structure is highly diversified, spanning services (IT, financial services, business process outsourcing), manufacturing, agriculture and a rapidly expanding digital economy. Despite that, GDP per capita stands at around $2,800, reflecting lower-middle-income status. Nonetheless, there has been significant upward momentum driven by digitalisation and demographic growth, according to the World Bank.
The country’s financial hub is Mumbai, home to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Bombay Stock Exchange and major financial institutions. Among the largest banks is State Bank of India, which continues to play a central role in both traditional and digital banking transformation. Beyond Mumbai, other cities such as Delhi, the capital and largest by population, plays an active role in the wider fintech and digital space.
Digital economic transformation
India’s digital transformation is distinctive in its architecture. Rather than relying solely on private-sector innovation, the country has built a layered system of digital public infrastructure (DPI) – commonly referred to as the “India Stack”.
It includes the following: First, there is Aadhaar, the biometric digital identity system. Second, there is the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), enabling instant payments. Third, there is the Account Aggregator (AA) frameworks, enabling data-sharing. All three are helping bring digital inclusion for all in India.
UPI, in particular, has become the backbone of India’s digital economy. This year, it has processed over 14 billion transactions per month, with annual transaction values exceeding $2.5trillion, making it one of the largest real-time payment systems globally. Much of its success can attritute with it fomalising the informal economy, expansion of small and medium enterprises (SME) participation, and growth of digital commerce and platforms.
Financial services sector: digital transformation at population scale
India’s financial services sector has undergone a profound transformation over the past decade. What was once characterised by limited access and heavy reliance on cash is now increasingly digital, interoperable and inclusive.
This transformation has been driven by widespread adoption of mobile payments and digital wallets, expansion of digital lending and alternative credit scoring, and integration of financial services into e-commerce and digital platforms
The RBI has played a pivotal role in shaping this ecosystem. Some of the recent initiatives it has done include:
- UPI expansion and internationalization – The RBI and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have continued to expand UPI domestically and internationally, enabling cross-border payments with countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore
- Account Aggregator (AA) framework scaling – The AA ecosystem has gained traction, enabling secure data-sharing across financial institutions and supporting improved credit access for individuals and SMEs
- Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot (Digital Rupee) – The RBI has expanded its pilot of the digital rupee, exploring both retail and wholesale use cases, including programmable payments and settlement efficiency
- Digital lending guidelines (2022–2024 implementation, ongoing enforcement through 2025–2026) – The RBI has strengthened regulatory oversight of digital lending, focusing on transparency, data protection and consumer protection
- Open banking evolution via Account Aggregator – India’s approach to open banking, through the AA framework, has enabled a secure, consent-based data-sharing system, positioning it as a global reference model.
These initiatives reflect a regulatory philosophy that combines innovation enablement with strong governance, ensuring that scale does not come at the expense of stability.
Financial inclusion: near-universal access
India has made remarkable progress in financial inclusion. According to recent estimates, approximately 78-80 per cent of adults now have a bank account, a significant increase from just over 50 per cent a decade ago, according to the World Bank.
For instance, one reason behind this was been the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). It is a financial inclusion program of the Government of India open to Indian citizens, that aims to expand affordable access to financial services such as bank accounts, remittances, credit, insurance and pensions. Its success can attribute to over 500 million bank accounts opened as a result.
Also, inclusion in India is no longer just about access but rather about usage, with millions actively engaging in digital payments, savings and credit.
India is now home to one of the largest fintech ecosystems globally, with an estimated 10,000 fintech companies operating across payments, lending, insurtech and wealthtech.
Examples of fintechs include Paytm ( digital payments and financial services platform), PhonePe (UPI-based payments platform with expanding financial services offerings), Razorpay (payment infrastructure and financial services for businesses) and Policybazaar (Insurtech marketplace).
These firms operate on top of India’s digital infrastructure, demonstrating how public and private innovation can reinforce one another.
It is not just Indian firms in India but also foreign firms that have also set up and expanded in the country. For instance, just recently, Revolut announced by end of this year it aims to invest shy of GBP£500million ($659million) and at 1,600 staff to a total head count of 5,500.
Conclusion: inclusion through infrastructure
India’s fintech journey offers a powerful lesson: scale is not achieved through innovation alone, but through infrastructure, policy and coordination.
In 2026, the country stands as a global benchmark, where digital systems have transformed access into participation, and participation into opportunity. This has brought its over 1 billion people closer to financial inclusion for all.
