By Amrita Singh
The Global Fintech Fest (GFF) that started as a virtual conference in 2020 during the pandemic has grown significantly in scale, international participation and institutional engagement since then and has become an important event on the global fintech calendar. Its seventh edition was held in Mumbai from 8-11 September and attracted more than 1,00,000 attendees from over 80 countries, bringing together startups, institutions and investors. The event featured product and report launches, sessions and masterclasses and was inaugurated by the Honourable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.
GFF is organized by the Payments Council of India (PCI), the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC). It seeks to facilitate collaboration between policymakers, regulators, institutions, fintech innovators etc. on a global level to build trustworthy, inclusive and resilient financial systems that deliver meaningful economic and societal impact. This year’s theme was “Potential to Impact: Agentic AI | Tokenisation | Quantum: Trusted, Connected, Global Systems for Inclusive Finance.” Individually, these technologies are powerful but their convergence could deliver real impact through a system that is intelligent, programmable and secure.
Agentic AI is an advanced type of artificial intelligence that works on its own to reach a specific goal. It enables financial systems to decide and act in real time without human intervention but within a strong governance framework. It can independently operate an end-to-end workflow, strengthen regulatory oversight and reduce frauds. It makes personalizing financial services at scale possible and facilitates human decision making.
Quantum technology is based on the principles of quantum mechanics. In Fintech, it makes processing complex, multi-variable data sets simultaneously possible; improves risk modeling, portfolio optimization, fraud detection and offers cryptographic security far beyond the limits of classical computers. It helps make financial systems more resilient and in turn, more trustworthy.
Tokenization refers to the process of creating a digital token on a blockchain that represents a physical or digital asset or the rights associated with an asset. For example, real estate tokenization is the process of converting the value of a physical property into digital tokens, allowing investors to gain fractional exposure to real estate without buying an entire property. In India, platforms such as Alt DRX offer investors the opportunity to invest in a variety of professionally-curated digital real estate assets across the country with amounts as low as Rs. 10,000.
Tokenization transforms assets into digital units - this makes fractional ownership possible, makes transactions more efficient, allows easier transfer of ownership and instant settlement, improves liquidity of traditionally illiquid assets like real estate and makes previously inaccessible assets accessible to a wider investor base. It has reshaped capital markets, payments systems and increased participation across global financial systems. For real estate in particular, it has allowed a lower cost of investment, increased transaction efficiency, easier diversification, transparent and secure ownership records and more liquidity for investors, changing how they access and invest in real estate.
