Digital Lending Association of India..

Digital Lending Association of India (DLAI) organized a policy conference on “Fintech and Sustainability: Strengthening Women-Owned Enterprises Through Fintech Lending to MSME Sector", in association with UNGC India and G20-EMPOWER.

Keynote address delivered by Dr. Abhijit Phukon, Economic Advisor, Joint Secretary, Dept. of Financial Services, MoF, Govt. of India. 

(BDN),June 27, Delhi, 2023: Digital Lending Association of India (DLAI) along with UNGC India and G20 EMPOWER, to catalyze a discussion on the role of lending fintech firms in contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and furthering access to finance to women-owned MSMEs in India, organized a conference titled 'Fintech and Sustainability: Strengthening Women Owned Enterprises Through Fintech Lending in MSME Sector', on 26th of June 2023 at India Habitat Centre, Delhi. The event saw industry leaders from leading Fintech firms, SIDBI, The World Bank Group, and policy experts from other sectors gather to deliberate the same.

The keynote address was Delivered by Dr. Abhijit Phukon, IES, Economic Advisor, Joint Secretary, Dept. of Financial Services, MoF, Govt. of India. The event began by welcoming the delegates and lighting of the Lamp by Dr. Abhijit Phukon, and other Senior Dignitaries.

The inaugural session saw a special address by Mr. Manoj Sharma, Managing Director, MicroSave who spoke about various models of access to finance and how fintech firms were better equipped to take digital financial services to the MSME sector. This was followed by a speech from Mr. Ratnesh, Executive Director, United Nations Global Compact, on 'Sustainability, SDGs and Fintech'.  Mr. Ratnesh touched upon the multiple ways fintech can help in supporting the SDG goals such as elimination of poverty, supporting education, etc. 

In his keynote speech, Dr. Phukon highlighted the credit gap in the MSME sector and the need and role of digital financial services in addressing the same. He also highlighted GoI’s initiatives in strengthening MSME sector entrepreneurs. He also addressed the crucial aspect of gender sensitization, emphasizing that out of the registrations on the Udyam portal, 18% were women entrepreneurs. He further emphasized the pressing need for financial services specifically tailored for women entrepreneurs. Dr. Phukon noted that while already offering a host of products and services for the MSME sector, could play a more significant role in benefiting MSMEs and women entrepreneurs.

The conference also featured an insightful panel discussion titled 'Fintech Lending and MSME Finance', designed to examine and debate the many ways fintech firms support the growth of MSMEs in India. The discussion was expertly moderated by Mr. Ravi Tyagi, CGM (Digital Initiatives), SIDBI. The diverse panel of experts included Mr. Amit Arora, The World Bank, Ms. Pallavi Shrivastava, Progcap, Dr. Renuka Sane, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and Trustbridge, Mr. Siddharth Mahanot, Indifi Technologies, and Mr. Mukesh Mohan Gupta, the Chamber of Indian Micro Small & Medium Enterprises.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Jatinder Handoo, CEO, DLAI said, The topic of the conference was apt as the Government and the RBI were also focusing on the issues related to MSME and Sustainable finance and fintech companies already play a role in contributing to some SDGs. He also said that DLAI’s prime role is to support responsible market conduct, facilitate transparency in the system, support the capabilities of DLAI members, and to ensure client centricity through an effective customers’ grievance redressal mechanism.