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The Economic Times
The Economic Times
Technology
Jitendra Gupta

Why India cannot build a world-class fintech champ yet

India has built the world’s most envied digital financial infrastructure. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) clears 18 billion transactions a month. Aadhaar onboards customers at near-zero cost. The Account Aggregator (AA) and ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) stacks have no real global peer. And yet, till 2026, India has not produced a single consumer fintech like Brazil’s Nubank, the UK’s Revolut, or Chime.

The problem is not founder ambition, customer demand, or tech talent. It is the architecture of regulation.

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