FM Nirmala Sitharaman says idea of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ will be achieved through technology

She said the fast digitisation of financial services brought many unbanked people into the fold and, in a way, India led the way towards an inclusive financial world.

"We have brought paperless and cashless layers to the financial world. Have added a cashless layer to the health sector. Have now brought a consent layer to the financial world," she said, adding that Indian regulators were not behind in this digital revolution.

Sitharaman reiterated the Reserve Bank wouldcome out with the RBI-driven digital currency. She made no mention of cryptocurrencies that have recently seen price erosion as global markets are in turmoil.

The FM emphasised the RBI has to play an important role in digital currency. On February 1, she announced in her Budget speech that Digital Rupee or Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would be issued by the RBI in the current financial year.

On digitisation, the finance minister added that the markets regulator Sebi was one of the early adopters of sustainable reporting of listed entities and that the regulatory sandbox helped to test new initiatives.

While the FM sees many opportunities in green finance – an arrangement for the specific use of funds for environmentally sustainable development products, CEA Anantha Nageshwaran said the next wave in the fintech ecosystem would be cash flow-based lending.