Rural fintech ecosystem a game changer in 2023

India has come a long way in its digital journey with over 70% of the total population residing in rural areas now getting access to banking and financial services with the help of more than 30 lakh rural banking outlets across the country. 2022 has seen some successful and noteworthy initiatives undertaken by the government including 123 Pay, and launch of 75 Digital Banking Units in 75 districts.

The initiatives taken by the government are addressing the under-penetration of banking and financial services, dearth of financial literacy & awareness as well as employment opportunities prevailing in Bharat. Other initiatives like ONDC are democratising e-commerce in India and shaping the future of global ecommerce.

2023 is going to be a game changing year for the rural fintech ecosystem. For the Indian economy to grow, the rural segment has to grow and with the pool of opportunities presented by technology and internet penetration, it will also take India towards the dream of a $5 trillion economy by the turn of this decade or sooner.

As we step into 2023, it will pave the way for a rural fintech revolution that will focus on cashless transactions, embedded finance, and open banking for hyper-personalization, leading to increased digital adoption thereby driving financial inclusion for the last mile.

Newer technologies like Web3 and crypto, while still in their nascent stage, have taken the world by storm and investors across the globe are realizing the multitude of opportunities it offers.

2022 has been a big year for the Web3 and crypto space, with new projects and protocols launched while existing ones continue to grow and evolve. The Ethereum upgrade was one of the major developments in the crypto industry, making the blockchain more scalable, secure, and sustainable paving the way for more efficient decentralized applications to be built.

Transparency in this industry has become a big area of focus and blockchain technologies such as merkle-sum trees and ZK-SNARKs are being used to build proof of reserves which we hope will bring added trust into the digital asset space.

In 2023, it will be the responsibility of all players in the crypto and Web3 ecosystem to foster a sense of security among its consumers. Putting in the right protocols and practices in place to avoid the impact of black swan events will be crucial to success. We can expect to see the continued development of Web3 infrastructure with continued attention to investor education and awareness. To build a robust Web3 infrastructure, security is very important.

Going forward, Sustainability and financial inclusion will be strong themes, promoting mass adoption of the asset class. Those businesses that operate with transparency, strong ethics and values, while protecting consumer interests will succeed.