Startups Built Atop India’s DPI Pegged At $100 Bn: Nilekani

SUMMARY

The idea behind building UPI was to lay the groundwork for rails that could be utilised by homegrown entrepreneurs for innovative offerings, said Nilekani

Pitching a concept called “Finternet”, he said that the user-centric and unified platform will host all types of assets and would have a universal infrastructure

As per an Inc42 report, the Indian fintech space is projected to become a $2.1 Tn market opportunity by 2030

Infosys cofounder and non-executive chairman Nandan Nilekani has said that startups built on top of India’s digital public infrastructure are valued north of $100 Bn.

“The estimate is that the market value of startups on top of India’s DPI is about $100 Bn,” Nilekani said while speaking at the annual Global Fintech Festival 2024.

He also reaffirmed that the idea behind building the unified payments interface (UPI) was to lay the groundwork for rails that could be utilised by homegrown entrepreneurs for innovative offerings.

Speaking at the event, Nilekani also elaborated on a concept called “Finternet”, which he dubbed as the future of finance. He said that Finternet would be user-centric and unified, adding that the platform will host all types of assets and would have a universal infrastructure.

All the assets, including land, property, bonds, financial investment, art, paintings, among others will be brought under a single infrastructure and tokenised, he added. On what necessitated the need of such a new system, he noted that current financial systems are unable to handle the demand from users as customers want more choice and more control.

“It allows everybody to participate and controls all assets. We want to have something which allows everyone to participate and control all kinds of assets. User-controlled assets, user content, NFTs (non fungible tokens), adjusted assets which are certified by somebody, registered assets like land, or regulated assets like financial products,” Nilekani added.

The comments came on the first day of the three-day long Global Fintech Festival 2024, which is being organised in Mumbai. The flagship event is expected to see the attendance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, among others.

On Day 1, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced the launch of two new products from the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) stable namely UPI Circle and Bharat BillPay For Business.

While UPI Circle allows users to delegate payments to trusted secondary customers, BBPS for Business enables companies to automate various invoice payment processes. Additionally, the day also saw ecommerce giant Flipkart’s fintech app super.money debuting its maiden product, a co-branded credit card in partnership with Utkarsh Small Finance Bank.

At the heart of all this is the burgeoning Indian fintech space, which has seen startups raise more than $28 Bn in funding between 2014 and 2023. The sector counts more than 23 unicorns and 36 soonicorns under its belt.

The growth of the fintech ecosystem has largely been attributed to the growing number of internet users in India, increasing penetration of smartphones and affordable internet tariffs.

Additionally, digital public infrastructure such as UPI, ONDC and account aggregator framework has created multiple use cases and spawned the rise of giants in the fintech ecosystem.

As per an Inc42 report, the Indian fintech space is projected to become a $2.1 Tn market opportunity by 2030.

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