Mukesh Ambani Calls for Convergence Of Blockchain, Distributed Ledger & Smart Tokens

As India’s financial sector has witnessed a massive evolution with the growth of fintech and digital payments, Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani has said that the next major evolution in the fintech space will be the convergence of blockchain, distributed ledger and smart tokens.

Ambani was of the view that such a convergence would happen within 10 years time and would be a “prerequisite to a great economic growth’. He made the statement on Friday (December 3rd, 2021) during an interaction at the Infinity Forum, a financial technology event of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).

“I think that the convergence of real time, the convergence of distributed ledger and blockchain technologies, smart tokens, the convergence of physical and digital through IoT will enable and redefine the decentralised financial sector in a way we have never imagined,” he said.

Saying that the world is now witnessing the fourth transmission in terms of technology, he observed that people are moving from digital revolution to “digital first” revolution. 

The RIL Chairman was of the view that while China led the world in terms of manufacturing, India will lead the global “digital society” and become a leader in the segment.

Calling for protection of people’s right to privacy, he said, “We have to work to have the right policies and the right regulatory framework to balance the imperatives of creating next generation infrastructure, harmonising and integrating it with the rest of the world and regulating in a way that we don’t stifle innovation but protect the end user and all the citizens of the country and the world.”

“We are on the verge of introducing a data privacy bill, which I look forward to, and also the crypto currency bill. So I think we are on the right track, and what impresses me the most is that as a society we are most proactive, open and vibrant.”

The much anticipated cryptocurrency bill is scheduled to be introduced in the Parliament in its ongoing winter session.

The government is likely to propose recognition of cryptocurrency as an asset and prohibit its usage as a currency. The crypto assets may come under the regulation of capital markets regulator SEBI.

Speaking at the forum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the initiatives in the fintech space in India should now turn into a “fintech revolution” by financially empowering every citizen of the country.

Growing Fintech Space

The fintech sector in India has witnessed rapid strides amid the pandemic with mass adoption of digital payments. The contactless digital payments such as mobile wallets and UPI continue to gain market momentum even after the conditions brought by the Covid-19 pandemic begin to subside.

The digital payments market is expected to grow to INR 7,092 Tn in India by 2025. Further, the current 160 Mn unique mobile payment users are likely to multiply by five times to reach nearly 800 Mn by 2025.

India’s is one of the fastest-growing compared to the rest of the world. The country has the highest fintech adoption rate at 87% against a global average of 64%.