Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal on Wednesday, 9 September called on India to aggressively leverage its fintech stack — including the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) — to capture a larger slice of global financial services trade, with a sharp focus on Global South nations. Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, Agrawal outlined a pathway that could multiply India's fintech exports from roughly $8 billion today to as much as $60–80 billion.

The Export Opportunity

Agrawal framed the ambition in blunt arithmetic: a 10 per cent share of rapidly expanding global fintech services trade would be enough to achieve the leap. 'Fintech services is where trade is growing and if we can contribute even 10 percent we are talking of a journey from $8 billion to maybe $60–80 billion,' he said.

India's fintech sector has already demonstrated scale domestically, with UPI processing billions of transactions monthly. The Commerce Secretary argued that this proven infrastructure gives India a credible export proposition — particularly for emerging economies seeking affordable, interoperable payment rails.

DPI Diplomacy: 23 MoUs and Counting

India has signed memoranda of understanding with around 23 countries for cooperation on digital public infrastructure, according to Agrawal. The outreach is not limited to technical agreements: the government is also prioritising payment system integration with nations that host a significant Indian diaspora, where remittance flows and cross-border commerce create immediate demand for interoperable systems.

'We have done MoUs with around 23 countries for DPI cooperation, every FTA we negotiate, we also discuss aligning payments systems especially in countries where India has a huge diaspora,' Agrawal said. This positions DPI exports as both a commercial and a foreign-policy instrument — a notable strategic framing.

FTAs as a Fintech Lever

Agrawal highlighted free trade agreements (FTAs) as a critical enabler, noting that India uses FTA negotiations to dismantle barriers across financial regulation, telecommunications, cross-border data flows, artificial intelligence, investment, and the movement of professionals.

In the last four to five years, India has concluded 9 FTAs covering nations with a combined GDP of $60 trillion. Within these agreements, financial services chapters are being structured to ensure reciprocal market access — allowing foreign banks into India while securing entry for Indian banks into partner geographies.

'One of the key areas we negotiate as part of FTA talks are services trade under which we negotiate financial services, wherein we are taking commitments where we are allowing their banks to India, but we are ensuring that our banks can move to their geography,' Agrawal said.

Reducing the Cost of Finance

Beyond exports, Agrawal underscored the developmental case for expanding India's fintech reach. Interoperable digital payment systems and India's fintech capabilities, he argued, could make remittances and lending significantly more affordable across the Global South — addressing a persistent pain point for migrant workers and small businesses in developing economies.

This comes amid growing international interest in India's DPI model, which the G20 has formally recognised as a framework worth replicating. With the Global Fintech Fest serving as a key industry platform, Wednesday's remarks signal that the Centre intends to translate diplomatic goodwill around DPI into concrete export revenues in the years ahead.