Overview

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Foreign Currency Settlement System at GIFT IFSC, enabling near real-time settlement versus the current 36–48 hour lag and bringing the centre under select global hubs with local FX settlement.
• Sitharaman warned that AI is being used to “hack trust,” citing several deepfake videos of herself, and urged fintech firms to prioritise revenue discipline, product innovation, profitability, risk management and compliance.
• SEBI and NPCI rolled out a verified UPI handle for registered intermediaries and SEBI introduced “SEBI Check” to validate UPI IDs and bank accounts, with major brokers covering over 90% of investors and all mutual funds already onboard.
• The minister highlighted India’s $1.3 billion IndiaAI Mission and the scale of digital public infrastructure, noting India’s lead in real-time digital payments and reported DBT savings of Rs 4.31 lakh crore.
• RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the central bank is building a digital payments intelligence platform for real-time fraud detection and has conceptualised a Unified Market Interface, with work underway on digital onboarding standards.