Mumbai, September 11: “I would urge all fintech companies to treat data as a fiduciary responsibility, not as a business asset. This data must be treated the way a trustee treats assets and property, collected with a clear purpose and used strictly within the consent provided, and protected as though it was a human,” said Shri Sanjay Malhotra, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, today at Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026, being held from September 8–11 at the Jio World Centre, Mumbai.
Delivering his keynote address on “Shaping the Next Decade of Finance: Technology, Trust and Innovation,” Shri Malhotra added that when a “fintech company’s lending book or user base grows to a point where its disruption could meaningfully affect the financial system, the firm has a responsibility to protect data”. He underscored the importance of operational resilience, business continuity, and cyber security, for a fintech company that has achieved scale.
GFF 2026 is organised by the Payments Council of India (PCI), the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC). The conference is supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY); the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance; the New, Emerging and Strategic Technology (NEST) Division, Ministry of External Affairs; NITI Aayog; the Reserve Bank of India (RBI); the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI); the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA); and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
Talking about inclusion, Shri Malhotra said that “57 crore Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts, over 85 crore micro-insurance policies represent the impact of the fastest transformation in financial behaviour witnessed anywhere in the world”.
“Today, a street vendor displaying a QR code to receive payments is a common sight,” he said, describing it as “a simple but very powerful example” of the scale of inclusion achieved in just a few years. “It has happened because of the public-private partnership which has facilitated entrepreneurship and innovation while maintaining public trust and preserving confidence,” he said, commending innovators and entrepreneurs who were present at his session.
On India’s global standing, the governor struck an optimistic note, pointing to the country’s fintech ecosystem as the third largest globally. “India’s first decade of fintech was largely about building for India. The next decade presents an opportunity to build for the world, in India,” he said, adding that solutions developed for financial inclusion, affordable payments and digital identity could be adapted for wider global adoption.