“Artificial intelligence has moved from the margins to the mainstream. It is reshaping how we design, deliver, and experience financial services, opening doors for efficiency, inclusion, and resilience,” said Shri Ajay Kumar Choudhary, Non-Executive Chairman and Independent Director, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), delivering his special keynote address at the 6th Global FinTech Fest (GFF) 2025 in Mumbai.
Speaking on the theme “AI’s Promise and Peril: Building Responsible Intelligence for Inclusive Finance”, Shri Choudhary emphasised that while AI unlocks unprecedented opportunities, it also introduces complex challenges that demand prudent governance and cross-border collaboration.
He noted that investment in AI across banking, insurance, capital markets and payments is expected to reach nearly USD 100 billion by 2027, with 78% of financial organisations already deploying AI in at least one function, a sharp rise from 55% in 2023. “The industry is no longer debating if AI will matter, it is preparing for how far and how fast it will take us. The real question is whether we harness this power carefully.” he said.
Highlighting two critical dimensions of the AI revolution, Generative AI, which creates and analyses at scale, and Agentic AI, which can autonomously pursue complex tasks, Shri Choudhary underlined their transformative potential for fraud detection, compliance automation, trading precision and customer engagement. Early studies suggest global banks could see productivity gains of USD 200–340 billion annually through these technologies.
At the same time, he cautioned against AI-driven vulnerabilities, including model bias, explainability gaps, concentration risks and systemic dependencies across infrastructure layers from specialised chips to cloud, data and large foundation models. Global standard-setting bodies like the Basel Committee, IMF and BIS have warned of potential amplification of financial cycles and systemic risks if AI adoption remains unchecked.
A key strategic priority flagged by Shri Choudhary was the concentration risk in AI infrastructure. He explained that the AI ecosystem rests on five inter-dependent layers i.e. specialised chips, cloud platforms, vast datasets, foundation models and end-user applications. Today, one company produces about 90% of advanced processors, three firms control most global cloud capacity, and only a handful of entities dominate foundation models. Such systemic dependencies, he cautioned, affect not only financial resilience but also economic sovereignty and national security, and must be addressed proactively through diversification and robust governance.
“This is why responsible AI is not a slogan. It is the only way forward,” he said, urging domestic and international collaboration to diversify dependencies, strengthen data governance, and ensure resilience in an AI-driven era.
Shri Choudhary also spotlighted India’s leadership in inclusive innovation, citing the transformative scale of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), now processing over 20 billion transactions a month. He showcased NPCI’s initiatives such as ‘UPI Lite’ for low-bandwidth regions, ‘UPI for Her’ empowering women entrepreneurs, and ‘UPI 123Pay’ enabling feature phone users. NPCI’s federated AI models are being piloted to combat fraud without sharing sensitive data, while real-time mule account detection is strengthening payment integrity.