India showcased innovative digital finance projects at GFF 2026, including the country’s first tokenised corporate bond pilot, as regulators and policymakers emphasise strengthening trust, security, and access in the financial system through collaboration with fintech firms.
India used the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai to showcase a fresh set of digital finance projects that regulators and policymakers said are designed to make banking faster, safer and more widely available. The Reserve Bank of India said the event reflected its push towards a financial system that is more trusted, better connected and ready for new technologies, as Governor Sanjay Malhotra highlighted the central bank’s cooperation with fintech firms and other financial institutions.
Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of the festival, Malhotra said fintech firms were becoming increasingly important partners in India’s financial system and would have a larger role in broadening access to financial services. He said the central bank was working with industry players to improve access, cut digital fraud and bring down the cost of banking. Malhotra also said financial inclusion, customer focus and a secure digital system remained top priorities for the RBI.
Among the biggest announcements was India’s first tokenised corporate bond pilot, launched at the festival as part of a broader effort to test how blockchain-style distributed ledger technology can be used in securities settlement. Business Standard reported that the pilot, being run with the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the RBI, is intended to examine a new way to issue, hold, trade and settle corporate bonds. The report said three companies had already issued tokenised bonds worth ₹1,025 crore.
The other launches were aimed more directly at retail banking access. According to the National Payments Corporation of India, an open-source Android ATM was unveiled to allow instant issuance of RuPay cards and merchant UPI QR codes, while Credit Line on UPI was extended for select government-backed schemes. The fest also introduced Aadhaar-enabled three-party cash deposits, a move designed to improve branchless cash services and support users in rural and semi-urban areas.
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