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Informist, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026

MUMBAI – Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal Wednesday urged financial technology companies to "build in India, but design for the world". In his keynote address at the Global FinTech Fest 2026 in Mumbai, Agrawal said, "India's large domestic market can remain the laboratory in which technologies are tested to stay. Our free trade agreements and international partnerships can become bridges through which their capabilities can reach global markets."

He said India shares the informal nature of the financial sector, including dependence on the cash economy, financial inclusion being limited to urban centres with the Global South. "So we need to work with global partners across the world to see how we can use our experience and create fintech solutions for them also. And if you look at all countries in the Global South, largely Asian economies, African economies, Latin American economies, the challenges are similar," Agrawal said.

India's services exports depend heavily on information technology services and professional services, but there is a need to diversify, Agrawal warned. "I think now it is time that our initial growth in services export, which was built around talent, the tech talent that we had and the talent mobility that we could access to, now should need to be diversified through use of technology...We need to see how we are able to leverage and have a diversified bouquet of services that we can offer to the world," he said.

Indian financial technology companies can work with global partners in different economies across the world and provide solutions that are customised to their requirements, he said. Agrawal also said that fintech companies should look at reducing the cost of remittances. "Today India receives more than $125 billion of remittances. The cost of remittances on an average works out to be 5-6% which is very high because of multiple intermediation, multiple points of foreign currency exchange," he said.

Another area where financial technology companies can play an important role, according to Agrawal is trade financing. "For every micro, small and medium enterprise exporter from India, or for every micro, small and medium enterprise exporter to India, requires some degree of finance," he said.  End

US$1 = INR 95.03

Reported by Sagar Sen

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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