India's Digital Finance Focuses on Trust and Customer Protection

India’s digital finance ecosystem has moved beyond the challenge of access and scale, with the next phase requiring greater emphasis on trust, resilience, customer protection and accountability as technology becomes deeply embedded in everyday financial activity, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Shirish Chandra Murmu said.

Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest, Murmu said technology had transformed how financial commitments are created and executed, but could not replace the trust that underpins banking, payments, lending and digital identity.

“Trust is the bedrock of finance,” he said, adding that as finance becomes more digital, instantaneous and interconnected, the importance of trust only increases.

The shift has also made the underlying financial ecosystem more complex. A digital payment that takes seconds can involve multiple institutions, platforms, networks and security protocols, while a loan originated through a mobile application can bring together lenders, lending service providers, data providers, credit information companies and algorithms.

For regulators, Murmu said, the challenge is therefore not only to preserve a simple customer experience but also to ensure accountability across the wider ecosystem.

From access to trust

India’s digital financial journey has evolved from expanding access to driving adoption and scale, with the next stage focused on the quality and resilience of those systems.

India is now the world’s third-largest fintech ecosystem, with more than 14,000 entities and the sector growing at around 14% annually, while cumulative investment has exceeded $40 billion over the past decade, according to Murmu, citing IMF data.

The expansion has been supported by wider bank-account penetration, Aadhaar, mobile connectivity and interoperable payment infrastructure. As of August 2026, more than 59 crore Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts had been opened, creating a broad base for digital financial services.

The Reserve Bank’s digital payments index rose from a base of 100 in March 2018 to 516 in September 2025, while its financial inclusion index increased to 70 in March 2026 from 67 a year earlier. Murmu noted that the latest improvement in financial inclusion was driven largely by greater usage rather than simply wider access.

UPI illustrates the scale of that transformation. In financial year 2025-26, the platform processed about 24,162 crore transactions worth roughly Rs 314 lakh crore, accounting for around 85% of India’s digital payment transactions by volume.

India now accounts for close to half of the world’s real-time payment transactions. But the scale also changes the nature of risk, with disruptions or security incidents potentially affecting commerce and everyday life far beyond individual transactions.