New Delhi : The Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, hosted the Digital Payments Awards ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan in a significant move to recognize and strengthen the nation’s digital payments ecosystem.
The event was graced by the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman, and Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, reaffirming the government’s steadfast commitment to building a robust digital economy. The ceremony witnessed participation from senior DFS officials, along with representatives from 39 leading banks and 84 innovative fintech companies, as well as key stakeholders from central ministries, regulatory bodies, and industry associations, collectively celebrating India’s progress in digital financial inclusion and innovation.
The Union Minister congratulated the winners and praised banks and fintech for doing extraordinarily well in the digital payements sector.Creating new paradigms is something unique to Indian Fintech, which several countries have already appreciated. These nations are collaborating with India on the same, Nirmala Sitharaman said. Today UPI is active in 7 countries, the minister added.
The Union Minister said that nearly half of all real time digital transactions of the world are happening in India with 35 crore active users being a part of UPI system. Recognising the role of people in adopting Fintech, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said that India's digital payments success story is a collective effort of all the stakeholders. India has 87% Fintech adoption rate compared to 67% globally.Applauding India's success story, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said that India achieved 80% financial inclusion rate in just 6 years which in normal course will take 50 years.
He also spotlighted the impact of PMJDY, which has opened over 55.54 crore accounts with deposits exceeding ₹2.57 lakh crore, including 30.99 crore accounts held by women and 37.05 crore in rural and semi-urban areas. He praised the role of RuPay cards and UPI in democratizing access to digital transactions and noted the success of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), which has transferred over ₹44.34 lakh crore directly into beneficiary accounts, turning Jan Dhan accounts into active financial lifelines.