Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at the Global Fintech Fest 2023 on Tuesday (September 5) that India's financial ecosystem has registered huge growth in the last few years. Nirmala Sitaram also told how India has created wealth in the last four financial years.
At the inauguration of the Global Fintech Fest 2023 in Mumbai, Nirmala Sitharaman said, 'There was a time when convention financial activities were the backbone of the financial ecosystem, but today fintech has become a more robust and dynamic financial inclusion tool.'
Nirmala Sitharaman said that the number of demat accounts has increased 2.5 times from 4.1 crore in 2019-20 to 10 crore in 2022-23. Not only this, he also told that now a record number of mutual funds and SIPs are being registered, which help in creating wealth.
The Finance Minister said, 'India's top-30 cities are generally expected to be ahead in formal savings. However, in the last four years, the share of cities other than top-30 cities in the total mutual fund ecosystem has increased from 15% to 26%. Therefore, it is more than 30 cities, which are contributing to the financial ecosystem of India. He said instruments like SIPs are democratizing the opportunity for wealth-creation.
Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated India's stand that it wants global cooperation and a framework is necessary to counter threats emanating from areas like cryptocurrencies. He said, 'Unless you go for global cooperation, you will not get a responsible financial ecosystem that can also regulate it. Currently crypto assets are unregulated in India.
The Union Finance Minister has also asked banks and financial institutions to ensure that their customers register their nominees, which will help in reducing the quantum of unclaimed money.
The Finance Minister said, 'I want the banking system, financial ecosystem, mutual funds and stock markets... everyone should keep in mind that when someone deals with their customer's money, the organization should think about its future. Will happen and it will have to be ensured that customers register their nominees ie heirs and give their name-address and other details.
Sitharaman stressed the importance of the recently released Income Tax Return (ITR) data for August and highlighted that there has been growth in tax filings across all income groups. He said that all tax slabs have seen a minimum three-fold growth in tax filings, with some even four-fold growth.
