India’s Fintech Evolution: From Digital Payments to Open Finance
17 Mar 2026
1 mins read
By: Rahul Gupta 
“Digital India” is a term we have heard a lot over the years. For a larger audience, it has become a buzzword like AI, but the digital evolution of sectors has been immense, especially in the financial services sector. India has been able to build one of the world’s most robust digital public infrastructures, reshaping how people live, commute, shop, and even how large businesses interact with money.
Table of Contents
Introduction of IndiaStack
This all started with the introduction of IndiaStack. So, to start from the basics, what was the thought behind IndiaStack, and why do we need this fancy term? If we break it down to fundamentals, what are the things an individual requires to open a trading account or simply apply for a loan?
First is their presence (the individual itself). Next are the documents that authenticate that presence. Then come financial transactions to authorise the bank account or financial activity, such as bank statements, which show the individual’s financial capability. Finally, there is consent. If we have all these things, a person can practically purchase a house, travel, and do almost anything.
The constraint has always been that these processes were done physically. That is why India Stack was introduced—it completely digitalises all these four layers. The basic stack starts with digitalising the individual through Aadhar, digitally storing documents in Digi Locker. Then came digital payments, which are enabled through UPI. Finally, consent is enabled through e-sign.
The main challenge has always been the interaction of systems across different organisations. How do I consolidate my driving licence from the RTO and my birth certificate from CBSE (Class 10th mark sheet)? How does my money move from Bank X to Bank Y? How does a loan company access all my documents in a single place? India Stack digitalises all these processes by creating API interfaces and frameworks for organisations, making data sharing possible only when consent is given by the user.
How can wealth management be revolutionised?
Now, consider how wealth management and investment platforms can be revolutionised through this. Earlier, accessing services like lending, wealth management, or tax filing often meant sharing sensitive credentials with our CAs or manually consolidating documents. This led to privacy breaches or an unpleasant user experience.
To address this, India introduced the Account Aggregator (AA) framework, a consent-based data-sharing system regulated by the RBI. AA allows users to securely share specific financial data with financial service providers like loan companies, brokers, and wealth managers for a defined purpose and time period (time period can be set by the user), without sharing passwords or compromising privacy. It assists institutions in gaining access to accurate, real-time data.
Nowadays, we see start-ups providing us with the best credit cards based on our spending patterns, and apps suggesting healthy investment habits by analysing our portfolios. All this has been possible because of Account Aggregation.
To give a very simple example, earlier brokers required customers to upload bank statements manually for Futures and options activation. Now, we simply take customer consent and automatically fetch it; time and effort have both significantly reduced.
This shift is now enabling the next phase of fintech growth: Open Credit. Despite progress, credit access in India has long been constrained by complex and time-consuming processes. OCEN (Open Credit Enablement Network) aims to solve this by standardising digital lending, much like UPI standardised payments. Borrowers can apply for loans through any OCEN-enabled platform, while lenders receive structured, consented data to assess creditworthiness more effectively.
Together, Account Aggregation and OCEN are enabling Open Finance, an ecosystem where financial services are interoperable, data flows with consent, and most importantly, it leads to the democratisation of financial services.
Final Words
As a product manager, our scope of innovation has increased remarkably, and we can provide much better user experience by optimised journeys in the Fintech sector, especially why I believe “India’s fintech story is no longer just about convenience—it is about infrastructure-led innovation at scale.”
Disclaimer: Information is only for educational/Knowledge sharing purposes and not for soliciting any Investment or to influence investment/sale decisions of any person. The securities are quoted as an example and not as a recommendation. For registration details & disclaimer, please visit https://www.jmfinancialservices.in
