India, Italy selected as long-term co-chairs for GPFI

Hyderabad: India and Italy were on Tuesday announced as the new long-term co-chairs of GPFI. They have been selected for three years and their tenure will commence in 2024. The co-chairs have been selected on the last and concluding day of the second Meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) under the G20 India Presidency in Hyderabad

The meeting on March 6 and 7 was led by GPFI co-chair and G20 India Presidency It saw participation from the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank representatives from G20 and non-G20 countries and International organizations, including GPFI Implementing Partners and Affiliated Partners.

During the plenary, the GPFI members discussed and agreed on the way forward for important deliverables for the year, including those on digital financial Inclusion, and SME finance. A dedicated workshop was also organised for the development of GPFI Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) 2023 which will guide the financial inclusion work under G20 for 2024-26. A symposium on Digital Innovations in Payments and Remittances was also organised on March 6 on the sidelines of the GPFI meeting for both G20 and non-G20 countries.

The symposium hosted a panel discussion on Harnessing Digital Innovations in Payments Systems for Financial Inclusion, Resilience, Productivity Gains, and Inclusive Growth moderated by Dr Ruth Goodwin- Groen, MD, Better Than Cash Alliance (Better than Cash Alliance) and active discussions between Pedro de Vasconcelos (Sr. Technical Specialist and Financing Facility for Remittances Manager, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)); Harsha Rodrigues (Executive Vice President & Head of Regional Client Services, Women's World Banking); Sudhanshu Prasad (General Manager, Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, RBI) and Dr Ralph OyiniMbouna (Director of Digital Transformation and Services, Smart Africa).

The symposium led to a fruitful exchange of experiences and understanding on the development of a robust payment system for advancing financial inclusion, resilience, productivity gains and inclusive growth. The GPFI meeting was preceded by a Knowledge and Experience Exchange Programme for the Emerging Economies of the Global South held from March 4-6. This engagement with the global south is in line with the overall theme of G20 India Presidency i.e. One Earth, One Family, One Future. The exchange programme was addressed by Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Chief Coordinator, G20 India; Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance; Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Department of Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Department of Information Technology (IT), along with other experts from India and international participants.

To enhance the understanding of the participants on the role of the digital financial ecosystem based on DPI to accelerate financial inclusion progress, experts from India, including the Ministry of Finance, Reserve Bank of India, National Payments Corporation of India, Unique Identification Authority of India shared the Indian experience in transforming the financial inclusion landscape by leveraging DPIs.

Key learnings emerged from the exchange programme on the priorities and ideas of EMEs for advancing financial inclusion. G20 India Presidency is committed to advancing financial inclusion globally and bringing to fore the voice of emerging economies to the G20 discourse. The successful initiatives, challenges and developmental needs of the EMEs will be useful takeaways for G20 as it works towards developing FIAP for 2024-26, as well as other key areas of work during the year.