The world is finally taking us seriously: Pine Labs CEO says India fintech ready for global export

Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs

Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau said India’s fintech ecosystem has matured to a stage where its technology and architecture can now be exported globally, adding that the world is beginning to recognise India’s achievements in digital finance.

Speaking during a conversation with RBI Innovation Hub CEO Sahil Kirni at Global Fintech Festival (GFF) in Mumbai, Rau said the innovation happening in Indian fintech is unique and globally relevant.

“Where my head is right now…I truly believe what India is creating when it comes to fintech is extremely unique,” Rau said. “I think this is one of the only areas where we have an opportunity as the fintech community to actually export something out of the country.”

He added that while India may not yet be taken seriously in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, the country’s fintech story is commanding attention.

“If you go out and tell someone saying, ‘Hey, you know what, I will teach you AI,’ I don’t think so anybody is taking us seriously yet, maybe at another point they will,” he said.

“However, if you actually go out of India and say, ‘I am a technologist from India, and I do believe that I have a story to tell on the fintech space,’ I think we are getting to see globally the acceptance of the fact that what the Indian ecosystem has created in the fintech space is really special, operating at a very large scale.

He added that the country has come up with architectures which are unique that they can go and address other countries also globally.

“The world is finally taking us seriously,” he said.

There are institutions and organisations who are extremely good in being able to distribute payment systems through the deep pockets of the country, he added.

Rau’s comments come as the merchant payments and commerce platform continues to expand its international footprint and is preparing for an IPO.

Rau also discussed the evolution of payment systems and new opportunities emerging around programmable money and agentic AI.

“When I started off, what was considered Financial Services Technology was really what was happening in terms of ATMs,” he said. “Now we are at a point where money is moving like WhatsApp messages and that’s where payment systems have come to.”

He recalled a recent conversation with the CEO of PayPal who, according to Rau, described agentic AI as the next major shift in digital commerce.

“He said that agentic AI, which is again nothing else but a checkout experience around agentic commerce, is the opportunity that’s here and now. If I don’t align our teams to solve for agentic AI, we would have completely missed the bus,” Rau said.