Address by Governor at the Valedictory Session of the Fintech Conclave ‘Fintegrate Zone 2019’

Address by Shri CH. Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra at the Valedictory Session of the Fintech Conclave ‘Fintegrate Zone 2019’ and Release of Fintech Ecosystem Landscape Report organised at World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai at 5.30 PM on Friday, 1 March 2019

The Right Honourable Mr Mark Christopher Field, Minister of State for Asia and Pacific, United Kingdom, Ms Anne Dube, Consul General of Canada in Mumbai, Shri S V R Srinivas, Principal Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Mr Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech officer, Singapore, Shri Ajay Ramsubramanyam, Director and Co-Founder Fintegrate Zone, Ms Suniti Nanda, Fintech Officer, Government of Maharashtra, national and international speakers, invitees, delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

I am indeed happy to associate myself with the Valedictory Session of the Fintech Conclave, ‘Fintegrate Zone’ and to meet all of you.

I welcome all the participating start-ups, Corporates, Financial institutions, academic institutions, government bodies and delegates from India and other friendly countries participating in the event.

I hope you have had wonderful keynote sessions, panel discussions, workshops from industry experts and discussions with industry stalwarts during the last three days.

I am happy that the India Fintech Report is being launched and Fintech grants are being distributed to start ups.

I congratulate the Mumbai Fintech Hub (MahaIT), Zone Startups India and Fintegrate Zone for organizing this Conclave and sharing their vision of making Mumbai the Global Fintech Hub.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This city of Mumbai has witnessed several transitions and transformation during its history of 350 years. This city was known for its leadership in Shipbuilding and trade. With rising demands for the cotton from England, Mumbai became a major Centre for the export of cotton. Soon after the busting of the boom in cotton trade, Mumbai became a textiles town generating large number of employment opportunities. At the beginning of the 20th Century, Mumbai became a major financial hub in the country and eventually the Financial Capital of India.

The sleepy islands of Mumbai with a combined population of around 10,000 in the year 1660 became a megacity with a population of 13 million, and counting, generating large number of employment and business opportunities.

Today, Mumbai is home to many premiere Financial institutions including the National Stock Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, their regulator SEBI, and the Reserve Bank of India and many others.

With an estimated wealth of $820 billion, a GDP of $310 billion and the highest FDI inflow in India, Mumbai has the infrastructure to match its scale and pace of activities as well as the aspirations of a billion people who look up to it as their country’s gateway to prosperity and development.

The city of Mumbai, once again, stands at the cusp of change. It’s competitive business environment makes Mumbai a perfect base for a thriving financial technology (FinTech) ecosystem.

In the year 2018, Maharashtra took the initiative to make Mumbai the Global Fintech hub with a vision to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, develop citizen-centric products and service offerings, deepen market participation and liquidity, as well as drive transformative economic development.

In February 2018, the state government rolled out the country’s first-ever Fintech policy.

It’s heartening to see the traction created during the last one year. The impact created on Fintech sector is of utmost importance.

The Fintech registry, department’s engagement with Fintech start-ups for proof of concepts, grants/reimbursement for early stage start-ups, accelerator programs, fintech education platform, financial inclusion lab and market access events – are so pivotal to the well-rounded development of the sector.

I am pleased to see the active collaboration between Government, new age Fintech start-ups, academic institutions, financial institutions, incubators, accelerators, VC/PE community and many other stakeholders. An event like this is a Testimony by itself which resonates the objective and passion of the collaboration.

In this path to elevate the Fintech sector, our global partnerships will play a vital role. Its fulfilling to hear how UK and Singapore have led by example.

In coming days, the India-Singapore and India-UK corridors will enable the Fintech sector for broader global market access and enormous knowledge exchange.

With a robust Digital Infrastructure, competitive market, Indian Financial services have undergone a considerable transformation in the past few years.

Growing popularity and acceptance of Fintech products will encourage our entrepreneurs to focus on many opportunities in the days to come.

I met with few Fintech start-ups from Mumbai Fintech Accelerator, it was so enriching and overwhelming to hear out their passion for innovation.

In my capacity as Chancellor of 20 state-funded universities where nearly 3 million students are pursuing higher education, I often preside over Annual Convocation of Universities. In almost 8 out of 10 cases, the top honours and Gold Medals are bagged by girl students. However, when it comes to the job market, women are distinctly missing.

A survey conducted by an American think tank covering 22000 publicly-traded companies in over 91 countries, showed that companies employing 30 percent and more female executives earn more profits. So it makes a sound economic sense to employ more women as Professors, as Board Members and in all other professions.

Today, I was extremely pleased that through the FinTech empower, Women Enterpreneurs are building Fintech ventures. I have no doubt in my mind that women enterpreneurs will chart out success stories and correct the gender imbalance in employment.

I am confident, all these efforts will converge in fostering next generation innovation across the financial services ecosystem to nurture exceptional FinTech firms that enable financial empowerment and technological advancement.

I congratulate the Organizers and I do hope that this event will become an annual feature heralding the arrival of Mumbai as Global Fintech Hub.

Thank you

Jai Hind ! Jai Maharashtra !!