Overview

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman operationalised a Foreign Currency Settlement System at GIFT IFSC to settle foreign currency transactions in real time, replacing 36–48 hour delays and aligning the hub with centres like Hong Kong and Tokyo.
• In her opening address she warned of AI-enabled fraud and said she has seen deepfake videos of herself, urging a whole-of-society push for stronger safeguards and responsible use of technology.
• NPCI’s Ajay Kumar Choudhary called AI a dual-use force for finance, highlighted UPI processing roughly 20 billion transactions a month, and pressed for robust data governance with humans in the loop.
• The three-day festival is centered on AI with an RBI Innovation Pavilion and a Bharat AI Experience Zone by NPCI and NVIDIA showcasing applications across payments, credit, compliance and risk.
• Organisers project over 100,000 attendees and 7,500 companies this week, with keynote appearances by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer scheduled later in the program.