Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said smartphones will become India’s new bank branches. He spoke at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai.

Scindia said one gigabyte of data costs about Rs 9 in India. The world average is about $2.5. India operates at five per cent of the world’s cost.

Average data use has risen to 32 GB per customer. ‘The phone is going to become the bank branch. The mobile network is going to become your gateway for credit and investment,’ he said.

He described connectivity, compute and trust as the new ‘digital trinity’. They will power the AI economy, he said.

India’s internet users have grown from 25 crore to 100 crore in a decade. Broadband access rose from 6 crore to 103 crore.

5G now covers 99.9 per cent of districts. UPI processed over 24,162 crore transactions in FY 2025-26.

Scindia also highlighted UPI’s global push. The technology is offered free to nine countries. Talks are on with 20 more nations. He said India has moved from being a technology market to a technology maker.