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Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that in just 3 years, nearly 700 entities as of Financial Year (FY) 2025 across banking, insurance, securities, and pensions have joined the Account Aggregator (AA) platform, up from only 24 in FY22.
Addressing a gathering at the Digital Payments Awards 2025 in New Delhi, Sitharaman noted the surge in adoption of the AA platform--a consent-based data-sharing framework aimed at improving access to financial services. The number of accounts linked through AA has soared to over 15 crore, compared to just 1.5 lakh in FY22. Highlighted the rapid digital transformation in India's financial ecosystem, Sitharaman said that the expansion of AAs platforms has facilitated loans worth over Rs 88,700 crore and empowered nearly 1 crore users to manage their personal finances more efficiently while significantly lowering onboarding costs for financial intermediaries. "The number of accounts linked through AA has soared to over 15 crores, compared to a mere 1.5 lakh in FY22 - driving loans worth over Rs 88,700 crore and empowering nearly 1 crore personal finance management users, while lowering onboarding costs for intermediaries," Sitharaman said. The Finance Minister also highlighted the success of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in transforming welfare delivery. Since its inception in 2014, nearly Rs 44 lakh crore has been transferred through DBT, ensuring full transparency in government transfers and schemes. The government has saved Rs 3.48 lakh crore by eliminating leakages due to the integration of digital infrastructure and real-time Aadhaar-enabled systems, she added. Finance Minister further added, "Every fintech firm should view rural India as a fertile ground - not just as a social responsibility but as an opportunity to create new markets." Concluding her address, Sitharaman encouraged fintech firms to look beyond urban markets. "Rural India is not just a social responsibility. It is a fertile ground for innovation, inclusion, and opportunity. The next big wave of growth lies in Bharat beyond the metros." During the Fintech Payments Award 2025, the major fintechs PhonePe, PayTm, and Google Pay got the first, second and third places as the leaders in the offline digital payments acceptance infrastructure category. Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Uco Bank received the first, second and third positions under the public bank category, while HDFC Bank, City Bank and IDFC Bank were winners of the private bank category. Equitas Small Finance Bank and India Post Payments Bank were recognised as the players redefining financial access and inclusion at the grassroots level. Under the fraud prevention and grievance redressal category, Canara Bank and Yes Bank were awarded as a special mention while WhatsApp Meta, Navi, and Mobikwik jointly shared the first spot, and Jupiter Money and FamApp received the award under the third-party App Providers (TPAPs) category.
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