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President Murmu: Fintech Must Empower Women, Rural India for Inclusive Growth

President Droupadi Murmu addressed the Black Swan Summit in Bhubaneswar, emphasizing that fintech must evolve into a vehicle for social justice and inclusion. She highlighted the transformative impact of Direct Benefit Transfers and digital payments, particularly for farmers, small shopkeepers, and women. The President called for focused efforts to skill citizens in remote and rural areas and to integrate women as leaders within the fintech ecosystem. She also underscored the importance of digital literacy and cybersecurity measures to prevent online financial fraud.

Key Points: President Murmu Calls for Inclusive Fintech, Focus on Women & Rural India

  • Fintech as a tool for social justice
  • Focus on women as leaders and users
  • Need for digital skilling in rural areas
  • Cybersecurity and fraud prevention measures
  • AI as a strategic tool for inclusive growth
3 min read

Fintech must empower women, rural India: President Murmu

President Droupadi Murmu urges fintech to drive social justice, inclusion, and gender equity, highlighting digital literacy and cybersecurity measures.

"Women constitute an important segment that requires focussed attention for the promotion of fintech. - President Droupadi Murmu"

Bhubaneswar, Feb 6

The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, on Friday called upon entrepreneurs and innovators to ensure that fintech becomes a tool for social justice and inclusion.

President Murmu was speaking at the Black Swan Summit, India, organised by the Odisha government in collaboration with Global Finance and Technology Network, in Bhubaneswar.

While speaking on the occasion, President Murmu said that rapidly evolving technology also brings serious challenges, including cybersecurity threats, deepfakes, misinformation, and an increasing dependence on technology.

"However, the rapid technological changes have a huge positive impact on innovation and growth. Through events such as Black Swan Summit, innovative methods can be explored to leverage technologies for further enhancing capabilities through skilling, generate employment and accelerate the digital and financial transformation," said President Murmu.

She also said that in the past decade, the Direct Benefit Transfer of funds into bank accounts and digital payments have become very common among beneficiaries like the nation's farmers, small shopkeepers and women.

For them, 'fintech' is not a technical term, it has become their lifeline. The President further noted that India's fintech story should be remembered not only as a tale of technology but also as that of gender justice.

"Women constitute an important segment that requires focussed attention for the promotion of fintech. The fintech ecosystem must view them not only as end users but as leaders, professionals, and entrepreneurs," added President Murmu.

The President said that to make fintech more inclusive, there was a need to skill citizens, especially those living in remote, tribal, and rural areas with digital tools. She stressed that was crucial and urged entrepreneurs and innovators to make technology a vehicle for social justice, inclusion, employment, and entrepreneurship.

Dwelling on the potential misuse of technology by criminals for financial frauds, she said that the union government has undertaken various measures to prevent and report frauds, including setting up of Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System and Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre.

"Ensuring digital and financial literacy is essential to deter online financial fraud. It needs to be made part of school curricula so that the advantages and disadvantages of technology can be understood at a young age," she underscored.

She was happy to note that the Odisha government has launched the BharatNetra initiative for building a future-ready workforce and innovation ecosystem in digital, financial and insurance technology sectors.

During her address, President Murmu said that the upcoming India AI Impact Summit, to be held in New Delhi this month, is expected to see participation from around 100 countries. The summit aims to position Artificial Intelligence not just as a technological innovation but as a strategic tool for inclusive growth, expanding access to opportunities that have long remained beyond the reach of large sections of society.

"India AI Impact Summit will play a huge role in leveraging global AI expertise and technology for the benefit of people," the President noted.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

R
Rajesh Q
Absolutely right. The DBT for farmers has been a game-changer, no more middlemen taking cuts. But the cybersecurity point is crucial. My uncle lost money to a phishing call last month. Digital literacy is as important as the tech itself.
A
Anjali F
"Fintech story as a tale of gender justice" – powerful words. We need more women founders and coders in this space. The solutions will be better and more inclusive. Hoping the AI summit also focuses on removing bias from algorithms.
K
Karthik V
Good vision, but execution is key. In many tribal areas, network connectivity is still poor. You can have the best app, but without reliable internet, it's useless. Infrastructure development must go hand-in-hand with fintech promotion.
S
Sarah B
As someone working in tech, I'm impressed by India's focus on using AI for inclusive growth. The scale of India's digital transformation, with UPI and Aadhaar, is something the world is learning from. Including financial literacy in school curriculum is a brilliant, forward-thinking idea.
V
Vikram M
My small kirana shop runs on UPI now. Even daily wage workers pay digitally. The convenience is unmatched. But yes, we constantly have to be alert about frauds. The government's cyber fraud reporting system needs more awareness.

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