stimulus as growth recovered. second, the government also adhered to fiscal prudence, with actual fiscal deficit for 2022 - 23 kept in line with the budget estimates. third, complementing the monetary policy measures were a series of proactive and targeted supply side measures by the government. 5 all these factors put together, proved to be critical in moderating the price pressures. 16. as things stand today, the mpc in its october 2023 meeting has projected cpi inflation at 5. 4 per cent for 2023 - 24, a moderation from 6. 7 per cent in 2022 - 23. headline inflation, however, remains vulnerable to recurring and overlapping food price shocks. the core inflation has also moderated by 170 basis points since its recent peak in january 2023. in these circumstances, monetary policy remains watchful and actively disinflationary to progressively align inflation to the target, while supporting growth. 5 these included restrictions on wheat, rice and sugar exports ; cut in excise duties for petrol and diesel ; exempting imports of pulses from import duties ; release of pulses at a discount to states and union territories ; stock limits for wheat and pulses ; reduction in import duties on various edible oils and additional procurement and discounted sale of key vegetables among others. fintech space 17. the advent of fintechs has transformed the landscape of traditional financial services. this has tremendously improved the delivery of financial services by making them faster, cheaper, efficient and more accessible. india is currently the world ’ s third largest fintech ecosystem in terms of the number of fintechs operating in india. it is growing at a robust pace and is projected to generate around us $ 200 billion in revenue by the year 2030 6, contributing to approximately 13 per cent of the global fintech industry ’ s total revenue in 2030. the defining feature of the indian ‘ model ’ of digitisation is the lead taken by the government and the public sector in building infrastructures, on top of which innovative products are created by private sector fintech firms and start - ups. 7 the jam trinity – a combination of bank accounts ( jan dhan ) ; aadhaar, india ’ s biometric identity system that provides a single and portable proof of identity ; and mobile phone numbers – has revolutionised india ’ s fintech ecosystem in terms of financial inclusion, digitisation of financial services, and overall service delivery. 18. on top of this, the unified payments interface ( upi ) has

to these discussions, it is worth recalling why we are here. the words of mr. kofi annan, the former un secretary general, come to mind. he said this : “ where once the poor were commonly seen as passive victims, microfinance recognizes that poor people are remarkable reservoirs of energy and knowledge. and while the lack of financial services is a sign of poverty, today it is also understood as an untapped opportunity to create markets, bring people in from the margins and give them the tools with which to help themselves. ” i believe we will continue to see massive changes in rapid bursts. in the process, the goal should be to help as many people as we can emerge stronger and more productive members of the human ecosystem. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches