India's economy grew by 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter despite a challenging global environment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, calling the growth rate as a source of fresh hope for the world amid ongoing conflicts, trade tensions and disruptions to energy and oil supply chains.
Addressing the third leg of the Global Fintech Fest gathering in Mumbai, Modi said the world has been facing a prolonged period of conflict and uncertainty, with pressure on energy and commodity supply chains and continued tensions over trade.
"The April-June quarter had been particularly challenging, but India's strong economic growth demonstrated the resilience of its economy," he said..
"Even then, when India grows by 7.8%, the world sees a fresh hope," Modi added.
He also drew attention to India's improving sovereign ratings as another proof of the growing global confidence in the country. He highlighted the recent upgrade of India’s sovereign rating to the A category by Japan’s credit rating agency.
PM Modi noted that the upgrade came after nearly three decades, saying it reflected the world’s growing confidence in India’s economic growth momentum, macroeconomic stability and the structural reforms undertaken in recent years.
He further asserted that India’s reform process would continue at an even faster pace. “India's reform express will go ahead even faster,” Modi said, emphasising the government’s commitment to maintaining the momentum of economic and structural reforms.
India's UPI crucial chapter in fintech history: PM Modi
Talking about 10 years of UPI, India's digital payments system, the Prime Minister said India's fintech journey has been "amazing", with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) emerging as one of its biggest success stories. He said UPI has transformed digital payments to such an extent that any discussion on fintech would now be incomplete without mentioning the platform.
He said the next step for UPI after reaching several countries would be to connect with each of their payment systems.
"We have done this with Singapore, and as a result, transactions between India and Singapore are happening just like transactions between two streets in a city. We have to build the same connection with other countries and markets," he added.
Recalling the early days of the initiative, he said that when he spoke about a future where people would have their banks "at their fingertips", many, including well-informed individuals, found the idea difficult to believe.
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