Global Fintech Fest 2023: India’s attempt to become world’s fintech thought leader

“Inspiring, energetic and extremely optimistic! In fact, NPCI’s launch reminded (me) of Apple’s annual product launches” is how Pramod Varma, the Chief Architect of UIDAI, and India Stack defined the spirit of the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) - a starry reception of the who’s who of India’s financial services landscape in Mumbai, last week.

Indeed, it was a sight to behold. A packed auditorium with thousands of fintech enthusiasts from around the world stood and cheered as the seats filled up. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and Infosys co-founder and executive chairman Nandan Nilekani launched new features of the UPI, the payment platform developed and implemented by the country’s "crown jewel," the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

NPCI's mega launch was just one of more than 100 launches by prominent fintech startups during the three-day second offline edition of GFF at Mumbai's Jio World Centre.

Startups that participated and pitched their ideas to around 300 investors were able to initiate conversations for deals worth over $2 billion. Approximately 65,000 people attended the event over the three days, a significant increase from last year's gathering of around 25,000.

Organisers had pre-invited investors and startups to set up closed-door discussions on funding. “Every evening there were around 10 investor events being hosted at different restaurants by Omidyar Network, Peak XV, Matrix and even consultants like PwC and banks,” said Naveen Surya, organiser and advisory board member of GFF 2023 and Chairman of Fintech Convergence Council (FCC).

“It is like an extravaganza. This year, it is at a different scale altogether. Many investors I know have flown in from across the country and abroad to attend this,” said Mitesh Shah, Co-founder of Inflection Point Ventures, who spoke to Moneycontrol after a closed-door pitching session where he evaluated early-stage startups.

There were 900 global speakers including banks, regulators, fintechs and investors from around 100 countries.

How it began

Probably the biggest surprise was the presence of the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visiting in person to kick-start the event on September 6. “She, in fact, came in a day prior and went through all the arrangements across floors later in the evening...It’s an honour for us,” said Surya.

The grandeur of the event was fully felt in the pavilion on the ground floor, where around 300 startups, banks, and government departments had set up their stalls.

According to a venture capitalist who preferred anonymity, each booth setup at the pavilion cost companies about Rs 2 lakh-2.5 lakh. “The smaller ones cost about Rs 2 lakh and they had to also spend on the set-up based on their requirement,” he added.

The grandeur of the event was fully felt at the pavilion set on the ground floor, which had around 300 start-ups, banks and government departments set up their stalls.

“Last year, startups which had set up stalls were saying that in 3 days they managed to get a business pipeline for the next 6 months, this time they have done 2-3X of that. Many B2B companies said this was the best forum to meet so many companies and potential clients,” said Srinivas Jain, Co-chairman at FCC, Advisory Board Member, GFF 2023 and Executive Director and Head of Strategy at SBI Mutual Funds Management.

Compared to last year's 152 stalls, this year there were around 300 set up by startups, banks, and payment companies, including PhonePe, Fi, NPCI, Paytm, RBI, and Jupiter, to name a few. Almost every major fintech company seems to have sponsored this event.

“The crowd here doesn’t seem like it's just one industry - Fintech. The growth of this ecosystem is clearly visible in the crowd this fest has pulled,” said Dilip Modi, the Chairman and group CEO of DiGiSPICE Technologies and founder of Spice Money.

In a nutshell, the event was a hit.

“This was unbelievable, the kind of scale we achieved. Hoping to see the event grow further in the next year. This is not just about the fintechs, but the ecosystem built around it. Even startups from other sectors are now including fintech components into their business because ultimately everyone wants to make payments simpler and frictionless for their end customers,” said Harsh Jain, Co-founder and CEO Dream11.

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Not just the number of people, GFF this year took over four floors of the Jio World Convention Centre in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) – double the area it had booked in 2022.

According to Sumit Gwalani, Co-founder of Fi Money, GFF has grown 3-5X from last year.

“We have been closely associated with IAMAI. Unfortunately, there is not a second Jio World Convention Centre, otherwise, we would have booked that also. The idea is, why can’t India have the biggest fintech festival like Singapore. Happy and proud to see where this is going,” he said.

What changed

Organised by NPCI, the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC), and the Payments Council of India (PCI), the event was more than just a gathering for prominent fintech founders and bankers. Several RBI Deputy Governors and Directors joined the gathering, along with Sitharaman and Minister of State for Finance, Bhagwat Karad, over the three days. The event was a hotbed for closed-door meetings between stakeholders.

“Other countries are asking us how we are getting everybody to be at the same place, and cheer for innovation like this. Back in their countries they are all competitors, banks and fintechs are head on, but here everybody is collaborating and cheering for UPI,” UIDAI’s Varma told Moneycontrol.

To be sure, the regulator, as it did last year, used the stage to highlight the need for compliance, with an emphasis on self-regulation. In fact, RBI Governor Das, in his speech, called on fintechs to set up a Self-Regulatory Organisation (SRO) within the next year.

Meanwhile, fintechs are currently navigating regulations around co-branded credit cards, neo banks seeking NBFC licenses, digital lending and so on. In addition, themes like Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and UPI’s innovations have been presenting newer opportunities for startups to build on.

As for the relationship between banks and fintechs, there seems to be some development over last year. “We see stakeholders genuinely coming together in an attempt to serve and provide access to services to a larger population,” added UIDAI’s Varma.

Harshil Mathur, co-founder and CEO of Razorpay, added that there is an effort to partner with each other to achieve the same objective. Co-branded credit cards, for example, have been one such avenue for collaboration between banks and fintechs, as they have been a runaway success among customers.

“There are things that banks are good at - credit underwriting, managing credit books versus the things that fintechs are good at like distribution and experiences. Co-branded cards are an outcome of that, and I see a lot more of those happening,” said Mathur.

Missing from the occasion were crypto founders. Like last year, there were no panels or sessions with crypto exchange founders, given the RBI's stance on digital tokens.

Will India be the world’s fintech thought leader?

Prominent names from the banking and fintech ecosystem, including veteran bankers K V Kamath, Deepak Parekh, Axis Bank CEO, Amitabh Chaudhry, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Cred’s Kunal Shah, PhonePe’s Sameer Nigam, Pine Lab’s Amrish Rau, Jupiter’s Jitendra Gupta were flocked by entrepreneurs and fans looking to pitch their ideas or click selfies.

“Our intent of doing this was to put India as a thought leader across the globe. In this segment, we are the third-largest, the ecosystem is growing and the time is not far when it will be second or first by ecosystem sizes, right from a funding perspective to a start-up perspective,” Surya said.

While there was massive participation from not just India, but also global voices, regulators, bankers, and startups exchanging ideas, for many of them, the discussions primarily revolved around lending and providing consumer credit as the next big thing in fintech.

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Pine Lab’s Rau summed it up well when he took to X (formerly Twitter) on September 5 saying, “30K Fintech professionals will reach GFF today. They will debate, discuss and dream of Fintech ideas and monetisation. They will go back and do credit.”

Nitin Sharma, Co-founder and general partner at venture capital firm, Antler India, said, “My mind was blown with the scale. I wasn't expecting such a massive gathering and there's so much excitement. Launch of the credit line on UPI is a big innovation. Though super exciting for 80 percent of what GFF was, I have two questions.”

“Is fintech as a sector too hyped, because ultimately almost everyone is doing lending or credit? What more unique innovations can we bring in this sector, be it back end solutions, insurtech and so on?” he asked.

But many fintech startup founders that Moneycontrol spoke to believe that lending will ultimately open up channels of monetization for these startups, and that is where the money will be made.

Stage set for 2024

Even before GFF 2023 concluded on September 8, the organisers had already set and locked in plans for 2024. According to an organizing member who requested anonymity, GFF in 2024 will take place on October 8, 9, and 10 at the same venue.

A prominent fintech unicorn founder, said on condition of anonymity, that he believes next year, GFF will be 3.5X the scale witnessed this year with a lot more people.