report 2023 ( united nations population fund ) belongs to 15 - 64 years. continue to be the natural partners. we share deep historical ties. the teachings of gautama buddha have inspired our shared ethos and cultures. we look up to the japanese “ economic miracle ” as a learning opportunity as we prepare the ground to uplift india ’ s growth trajectory. japan has played a critical role in infrastructure building in india through several public and private sector partnerships. 2 there are many collaboration opportunities in frontier technologies such as space technology, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, rare - earths extraction, semiconductors and resilient supply chains, and other areas. our partnership could also be potentially strengthened in the sphere of human resources. i am sure the future offers limitless possibilities to deepen our engagements for the benefit our people and the entire world. 8. it would be worthwhile here to look a little deeper into india ’ s growth drivers, its experience of managing inflation since the pandemic, and the emerging opportunities and challenges especially in the fintech space. growth drivers 9. policy focus on strengthening macroeconomic fundamentals and continued structural reforms have made india distinct in terms of growth outcomes. this was reflected in the rebound in gdp growth after the pandemic from a contraction of 5. 8 per cent in 2020 - 21 ( pandemic year ) to a growth of 9. 1 per cent in 2021 - 22 and 7. 2 per cent in 2022 - 23. the gdp grew by 7. 8 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 - 24, and the available high frequency indicators suggest continuation of this momentum. for the some of the flagship infrastructure projects completed / underway through japanese collaboration include the well - known delhi metro ; the western dedicated freight corridor ( dfc ) and the delhi mumbai industrial corridor ( dmic ) ; and the mumbai – ahmedabad high speed rail corridor ( mahsr ), among others. full year 2023 - 24, real gdp growth is projected at 6. 5 per cent by the reserve bank. 10. the innate resilience of the indian economy could be attributed to its well diversified economic structure. although india has made rapid strides in external openness through trade and financial channels and gained competitiveness, its core dependence for growth continues to be its domestic demand which also provides a cushion against external shocks. among the constituents of aggregate demand, private consumption accounts for over half of gdp ( around 57. 0 per cent average share during 2011 - 12

played a phenomenal role in the fintech revolution in india. its success story has in fact become an international model. its ability to instantly transfer money between bank accounts through mobile applications has transformed the way people make digital transactions. the interoperability https : / / www. ey. com / en _ in / financial - services / how - is - the - fintech - sector - in - india - poised - forexponential - growth 7 initiatives like payments bank ( 2014 ), digital india ( 2015 ) startup india ( 2016 ), india stack, account aggregators ( 2016 ), peer to peer ( p2p ) lending platforms ( 2017 ) powered by 24x7 digital payment systems have emerged as key enablers for the development of fintech ecosystem in the country and internationalisation of financial markets. of upi across banks and payments systems has created a unified payment ecosystem. it has facilitated digital payments even for small businesses and street vendors, leading to greater financial inclusion. upi has also spurred development of new payment related products and services 8. further, linking of the upi with fast payment systems of other countries is also being undertaken. linkage of fast payment systems of india and japan may also be explored to leverage the power of fintech and make cross - border payments more efficient and less costly. 9 19. the reserve bank has also commenced pilot runs of india ’ s central bank digital currency ( cbdc ), the e - rupee, for specific use cases in both wholesale and retail segments. our approach to fintech ecosystem is customer - centric ; focus on good governance ; ensuring effective oversight, ethical conduct and risk management ; and encouraging selfregulation by the fintechs themselves through a self - regulatory organization ( sro ). 20. although financial innovation enhances ease of payment and lowers its cost, they also pose risks and challenges to the financial system. these risks have a bearing on overall financial stability and market integrity. we, therefore, intend to play a dual role of acting as promoter of innovation as 8 we are constantly working on new use cases of upi like upi lite that has been introduced for offline payments, and upi123pay that allows feature phone users to perform upi transactions. the infrastructure like rtgs and neft are also available on 24x7 basis throughout the year. upi - paynow linkage for cross - border remittances between india and singapore was launched in february