FM launches foreign currency settlement system at GIFT City

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday launched a foreign currency settlement system at GIFT International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) during Global Fintech Fest-2025.

The new system enables real-time transaction settlements, improves liquidity management, and ensures compliance, reducing the typical 36-48 hours lag for foreign currency transactions. With this, GIFT City joins elite financial hubs such as Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Manila — all of which have local currency settlement infrastructure.

Sitharaman highlighted India’s fintech achievements, saying the country ranked third globally in fintech companies, and handled half of the world’s real-time digital transactions. She credited the government’s balanced approach for fostering fintech growth, emphasising an enabling role that supported business, technology, and innovation without interference.

“We’d like to remain in the fringes and help,” she said, adding that fintech had democratised finance in India, empowering millions to save, invest, borrow, and insure transparently. Sitharaman said Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) had saved the government Rs 4.31 lakh crore by ensuring public funds reached intended beneficiaries, eliminating ghost entities.

Sitharaman flags deepfakes

The minister cautioned against the misuse of technology, citing AI’s potential for deception and fraud. Sitharaman said she had encountered deepfake videos of herself circulating online, manipulated to mislead the public. She called for using technology for public good, rather than weaponising it.

“It is important to constantly remind ourselves that technology cannot be...truly mastered, but having obtained certain propriety...we should refrain from weaponising it,” she said. “The same tools that power innovation can be weaponised for deception and for fraud. I am not personalising it, but I can say that I have seen several deepfake videos of myself being circulated online, manipulated to mislead citizens.”