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Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia addressed the 7th Global Fintech Fest (Mumbai, 8–11 September 2026), calling connectivity, compute and trust the 'digital trinity' of finance.
Broadband connections grew from 6 crore to 103 crore in a decade (about 16x); internet users rose from about 25 crore to 100 crore.
5G, launched in 2022, reached 99.9% of districts and about 85% of the population within 26 months, on over 5 lakh base stations; data costs about 10 cents per GB.
UPI handled about 24,162 crore transactions worth about ₹314 lakh crore in FY 2025-26: 84% of India's digital transactions and about 49% of global real-time payment volume.
India's 6G mission aims for 10% of global 6G patents; Digital Bharat Nidhi is setting up about 22,000 towers for 34,000 unconnected villages.
Umbrella retail-payments operator set up in December 2008 by RBI and the Indian Banks' Association under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007; not-for-profit (Section 8) company. Launched UPI on 11 April 2016 (pilot inaugurated by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan with 21 banks).
Citizen portal launched 16 May 2023 (app January 2025) to block stolen phones via CEIR and check connections in one's name; includes ASTR, an AI and facial-recognition tool for verifying SIM subscribers.
Launched by DoT's Digital Intelligence Unit in May 2025; tags mobile numbers as Medium, High or Very High fraud risk so banks and UPI apps can stop payments before money leaves the account.
Assent 24 December 2023; repealed the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933; created Digital Bharat Nidhi to replace the Universal Service Obligation Fund, which had been financed by a 5% levy on operators' AGR.
Released 22 March 2023; aims to make India a frontline contributor to designing, developing and deploying 6G by 2030. The Bharat 6G Alliance followed in July 2023; the target is 10% of global 6G patents.
Shared, interoperable digital rails that the state provides and private players build on: identity (Aadhaar), payments (UPI) and documents (DigiLocker). Scindia proposed a 'Trust Grid' joining telecom, identity, UPI and finance to prevent fraud rather than detect it after the fact.
General Awareness > Payment Systems and Digital Banking
GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy > Financial Inclusion; Infrastructure > Telecom
Which of the following is a most likely consequence of implementing the 'Unified Payments Interface (UPI)'?
Answer: Mobile wallets will not be necessary for online payments.
Consider the following statements about G-20: 1. The G-20 group was originally established as a platform for the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to discuss the international economic and financial issues. 2. Digital public infrastructure is one of India's G-20 priorities. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Fund under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 that replaced USOF; it finances connectivity in unserved areas and telecom R&D.
Payments settled instantly, around the clock; India handles about 49% of global volume through UPI.
AI and facial-recognition tool that finds SIMs issued on the same face under different names; part of Sanchar Saathi.