India's Tigers Roar: Relying on Fintech to Bolden the Future of Business:- www.deekpay.com

What exciting times we are experiencing in India! From a macroeconomic perspective, we are one of the few large economies that have demonstrated strong resilience. We are moving rapidly towards building a more inclusive and sustainable democracy while breaking through to the frontiers of technological advancement and innovation. Naturally, a position as one of the top three global economies and India's growing role in global politics are logical achievements.

This means that India's consumer market is expected to almost double from $1.8 trillion in FY2022 to $3.3 trillion in FY2026. This will involve more than 350 million to 400 million digital consumers, with more than 50% of their spending being done through digital payments. This "emerging internet consumer economy" will be built on growing wealth, with consumer spending on services expected to be three to four times higher than today.

Despite the clear outlook and economic benefits, four fundamental pillars are needed to successfully drive the country's business development to the next level:

seamless payment

Diverse payment options, higher success rates, reduced fraud rates and superior quality of service are all key parameters that will determine the continued growth of digital payments in India. As a prime example of the growth of new digital payment solutions globally, India will be at the forefront of exporting these frameworks and capabilities to a global audience.

Credit Access

Affordable formal credit will be a key lever for realising the ambitions of millions of Indian consumers and merchants. With the explosion of data and popularity of alternative assessment methods, consumer credit penetration for traditional products like credit cards will soon get a boost by adding more affordable options and usage scenario based underwriting. Some of these usage scenarios will be rolled out through new platforms, such as UPI-based credit, further unlocking the potential of existing scale. Merchant credit needs will also be met through systematic integration of data covering accounts payable, accounts receivable and history with bill and tax payments.

harmonised technology

Technology that bridges consumer, merchant and bank interactions at scale, helps unlock authentication, back office clearing and settlement, while maintaining high availability and low stress on existing systems, will be key to the future of commerce. The successful building of this infrastructure, combined with policy-driven "Digital India Infrastructure" programmes such as UPI, ONDC, OCEN, AAF and Digital Data Protection, will give rise to new business processes and models that will drive the growth of business flows.

Secure and trustworthy ecosystems

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has become a global role model by realising consumer protection at the core level while giving the system the flexibility to scale elastically. The regulator's vision and commitment to building security and trust in India's digital payments is a major reason for our global payments leadership. Their collaborative approach, adherence to transparency and experience in dealing with a rapidly evolving ecosystem is unrivalled, and we look forward to continuing to emphasise the elements that should be at the heart of commerce - 100% trust.

PayU at the forefront of India's business revolution

I am proud to say that at PayU, we have not only pioneered many initiatives under the four pillars mentioned above, we have also made breakthroughs at the intersection of these areas. We will continue to invest and redouble our efforts to drive the efficiency, scale and penetration of digital commerce in the country.

In conclusion, while the other ASEAN Tigers (Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea) roared in the not so distant past, it is now India's turn, and with its sustainable, inclusive and resilient businesses and processes, we will continue to roar not just into the 22nd century, but even into the third millennium. We will scale with the combined power of consumer strength and Indian entrepreneurship!