Committed to India - Vivek Belgavi and Sanjeev Krishan

Vivek Belgavi: Finance touches the lives of each and every Indian. It's not only an enabler of economic activity, but it's also an indicator of well being.

Sanjeev Krishan: Prime Minister Modi recently highlighted that the digital economy is a key pillar of our economic and startup ecosystem. He also noted that the economy of any country is as progressive as the strength of its banking system.

Vivek Belgavi: It's one of the most important imperatives we have to reach our $5 trillion India growth story. From where we are to take it to the next level, there are two key things which have to be done; one aspect is the formalisation of the economy. So that we have got more data and we move from inclusion to activation. Basis the data, everything from credit to investments to deposits, all the financial services can be provided to probably the large part of the population.

Sanjeev Krishan: It is great to see how far our FinTech startups have come and the huge role they play in promoting financial inclusion.

Vivek Belgavi: The second imperative which is probably the bottom half of the population would require is subvention and which is where the government has to play an important role. Now all these things will not happen naturally, we'll have to do some specific steps to take it to the next level. Here are the things we will need to do. One, create incentives for formalizations, especially across sectors like agri, healthcare, education and MSMEs. Second, on the subvention model, the government is already involved a lot into citizen activities, whether it is at a central level, state level or city level. Formalise those ecosystems, allow those platforms to be opened up for financial services to come in. Between these two key drivers as well as a liberal regulatory regime, we would meet the next level of our financial inclusion goals.

Sanjeev Krishan: At PwC, we continue to work with the financial services industry, fintechs and policymakers to ensure banking services reach the last mile. We have the ability to bring together financial and digital partnerships to create new ecosystem opportunities that enable our clients and partners to contribute to India's growth story.