PM Modi Urges Fintechs To Step Up Cybersecurity, Consumer Protection

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has urged Indian fintech startups to further strengthen cybersecurity and consumer protection as the sector moves into its next phase of growth amid the rise of new technologies such as agentic AI and quantum technologies.

Addressing the inauguration of Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026 in Mumbai today (September 8), PM Modi called for building stronger safeguards around India’s rapidly expanding digital financial services and fintech sector. 

PM Modi also said that the rapid adoption of new technologies must be matched by stronger security and trust mechanisms. He called for “top-notch cybersecurity” as financial services become increasingly dependent on digital infrastructure and AI. He also stressed the need for ethical data-protection practices to ensure consumer trust as innovation grows.

“Agentic AI, tokenisation, quantum, such technologies are opening new possibilities in the financial sector … For this, I want our fintech companies to come together and set some tasks for themselves,” he added

In this line, the government also recently formed an inter-ministerial group to develop a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy for India’s financial sector. Earlier this year, concerns also emerged around Anthropic’s Mythos, an AI system capable of autonomously identifying high-severity software vulnerabilities, prompting policymakers and financial institutions to reassess the cybersecurity implications of frontier AI models.

Today, PM Modi also outlined four broad priorities for the sector – stronger cybersecurity, ethical data protection, better consumer protection and closer collaboration between industry and regulators.

Noting that the initial phase of India’s fintech boom was largely defined by payments and digital infrastructure, the PM has now called for more fintech innovations in financial products and automated decision-making. He also underscored the need for building new products around data, fraud, cybersecurity and consumer safeguards. 

PM Modi also called on fintech companies to “move beyond payments”, with the next opportunity lying in areas such as credit, insurance and pensions. He also urged fintech platforms to take financial services to sections of the population, which have historically had limited access to formal banking. 

The Prime Minister’s broader message was that the infrastructure created through unified payments infrastructure (UPI) should now become a foundation for a wider digital financial ecosystem.

PM Bats For UPI’s Global Expansion

The PM said the next phase of UPI’s growth should focus on connecting the Indian payment system with payment ecosystems of other countries. 

“Our next goal should be to connect it with the payment systems of those countries,” PM Modi said.

As of September 2026, the homegrown payments infrastructure is live in 11 countries.

In his address, PM Modi also underlined that India should prioritise countries with large Indian diasporas and strong trade ties for UPI’s global expansion. 

“Indians are the ones who send the maximum money from abroad in the world but today, a part of the remittances goes away as transaction costs. UPI can help Indians save on these costs and the money can also reach Indian families faster,” he added.

Launched in 2016 under the aegis of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI has grown from 1.78 Cr transactions in FY17 to more than 24,162 Cr transactions in FY26, an almost 13,000X increase. As per government data, transaction value has risen from ₹7,000 Cr to around ₹314 Lakh Cr over the same period.

The growth has accelerated further in 2026. UPI processed a record 2,451 Cr monthly transactions worth ₹29.82 Lakh Cr in August. At the heart of all this is the thriving Indian fintech economy, which is projected to cross $250 Bn in revenue by 2030.

The comments were made at the inauguration of the 2026 edition of the GFF, which over its six previous editions has served as a key platform for fintech companies to unveil their newest innovations. The theme of GFF 2026 is “Potential to Impact: Agentic AI | Tokenisation | Quantum: Trusted, Connected, Global Systems for Inclusive Finance.”

Meanwhile, the UPI operator NPCI is expected to  launch a framework which would see AI agents execute small-ticket digital payments without requiring explicit user authorisation for every transaction, after showcasing a pilot of the same at GFF 2025.

Besides the agentic AI framework, the NPCI is also reported to be announcing interoperability for UPI AutoPay, allowing users to port their existing mandates across UPI apps and merchants to move mandates from one payment provider to another.

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