Business
UPI Lending & Payments Inclusive Towards Underserved & Unbanked Populations; Accelerate Innovation, Make India A Hotspot For Global Investors

New Delhi: India has emerged as one of the most dynamic fintech markets globally, driven by a potent combination of digital public infrastructure (UPI, Aadhaar, Account Aggregator), a mobile-first population, and regulatory clarity, a report showed on Monday.Fintech-led digital lending grew at 35 per cent CAGR in 2024, driven by rising credit demand, according to the report by QED Investors and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Tools like UPI have enabled a wave of fintech innovation from digital lending to payments to wealth particularly benefitting underserved and unbanked populations. These enablers have accelerated innovation and financial inclusion at scale, making India a key focus for both global investors and domestic fintech players, said the Media report.
India features among the top geographies poised for future fintech investment. Investors are encouraged to diversify capital into high-growth regions like India, with an emphasis on AI integration and disciplined scale, it added.India’s affluent middle class, currently 31 per cent of the population, is projected to grow to 40 per cent (nearly 600 million) by 2031.
This demographic shift is fuelling a surge in consumer demand for credit across retail, consumption, and SME sectors.”India stands at a unique inflection point in the global fintech landscape. With a strong foundation in digital infrastructure like UPI, Aadhar, Account Aggregator, and tech-savvy mobile-first population, the country has already shown how innovation can drive financial inclusion at scale,” said Sandeep Patil, Partner and Head of Asia at QED Investors.To win the next chapter, fintechs must pair innovation with disciplined execution.
“That means building trust, demonstrating profitability, and navigating an evolving regulatory landscape with maturity. The Indian market is large, dynamic and underpenetrated — well-positioned to be one of the defining arenas for global fintech over the next decade,” Patil mentioned.Globally, in 2024, fintech revenues grew by 21 per cent — up from 13 per cent in 2023 — marking a threefold acceleration over the financial services industry at large.“A class of scaled fintechs is coming of age
Investors are demanding greater maturity, and regulators want more accountability,” said Deepak Goyal, a managing director and senior partner at BCG.“Meanwhile, emerging disruptors are harnessing next-generation technologies like agentic AI and pioneering new business models, pushing established players to continuously innovate,” he added.
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Business
Air India’s US-bound flight returns to Mumbai due to technical snag

Mumbai, Oct 22: An Air India flight scheduled from Mumbai to Newark in the United States had to return after take-off, as the crew identified a suspected technical snag, according to a statement issued by the airline on Wednesday.
“The crew of flight AI191 operating from Mumbai to Newark on 22 October, made a precautionary air-return to Mumbai due to a suspected technical issue. The flight landed safely back in Mumbai, and the aircraft is undergoing necessary inspections,” according to an Air India statement.
The total number of passengers on board, along with the time at which the airline departed and returned, was not available in the preliminary statement. As per the usual schedule, the AI1191 flight departs at 01:10 hours (IST) from Mumbai and reaches Newark at 07:55 hours (EDT).
Due to the flight’s cancellation, the return flight from Newark to Mumbai — numbered AI144 — was also cancelled.
The incident comes close on the heels of Delhi-bound Air India plane running into a technical snag at the Milan airport last Friday, stranding over 250 passengers at the foreign airport just ahead of Diwali.
The airline’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner (VT-ANN) had encountered a technical issue upon landing in Milan, preventing the aircraft from operating the return journey to Delhi.
Air India then scheduled an additional flight from Milan to Delhi on Oct 19 to bring back home 256 passengers who were stranded in Milan since, October 17.
The airline claimed it had extended all immediate assistance to affected passengers, including hotel accommodation and meals. Full refunds or complimentary rescheduling were also offered as per passenger preference.
A similar incident occurred on August 16 this year, when an Air India flight on the same route was cancelled due to a technical issue that was notices during pushback.
According to Air India, a maintenance task was identified just as the aircraft was preparing for departure. The subsequent delay caused the operating crew to exceed mandatory flight duty time limitation norms, making it unsafe and impermissible for them to continue.
Business
Gold likely to open weak after steep global fall; prices may drop to Rs 1.22–Rs 1.23 lakh per 10 gm

Mumbai, Oct 22: The rush for gold may slow down after Diwali, as the yellow metal is expected to open on a weak note in the domestic market on Wednesday.
This comes after international gold prices fell sharply by 5.5 per cent — the steepest decline since August 2020.
Analysts expect Indian gold prices to correct to around Rs 1.22–Rs 1.23 lakh per 10 grams when markets open on Wednesday.
The fall in global prices has triggered profit-booking among investors who had benefited from gold’s recent rally.
Silver too lost over 2 per cent, trading near $47.6 per ounce after tumbling 7.1 per cent in the previous session.
Gold and silver both extended their slide from record highs, while Asian stock markets showed mixed trends following a muted session on Wall Street.
Experts said the sharp drop in precious metals reflects a wave of profit-taking after their rapid rise this year.
“Many investors have grown cautious, believing that gold’s rally may have entered a bubble zone,” analysts noted.
This year’s rally had been driven by worries about the fiscal health of major economies, especially the US, and expectations that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates further by the end of the year.
Gold prices had surged nearly 60 per cent this year, fuelled by central banks diversifying away from the dollar and retail investors buying into exchange-traded funds.
Market sentiment also turned cautious after signs of possible progress in trade talks between the US and China.
US President Donald Trump said he expects a “good deal” in his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, though he admitted the talks might still face hurdles.
Analysts believe that while gold remains a preferred safe-haven asset in the long term, short-term volatility is likely to continue as investors balance profit-taking with global economic signals.
Business
Samsung Electronics to use its own Exynos chip in upcoming Galaxy S26 smartphones

Seoul, Oct 21: Samsung Electronics Co. plans to use its in-house Exynos mobile processor in upcoming Galaxy S26 smartphone models, industry sources has said.
The company’s System Large Scale Integration (LSI) division, a fabless unit that focuses on designing and developing advanced system-on-chip (SoC) products, has completed development of the latest Exynos 2600 chip and will supply it for parts of the Galaxy S26 series starting in November, according to the sources, reports Yonhap news agency.
Exynos chipsets are designed and produced by Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor business.
According to the sources, the company’s in-house tests show strong performance from the Exynos 2600 compared with competitors, and the company believes the chip compares favorably with Apple Inc.’s A19 Pro used in the iPhone 17 Pro models.
The Exynos 2600 is expected to appear in at least one Galaxy S26 model, anticipated to be unveiled early next year.
If the top-tier Galaxy S26 Ultra uses an Exynos chip, it would be the first Ultra model to include an in-house processor since the Galaxy S22 series in 2022.
Previously, Samsung Electronics used Qualcomm Inc.’s Snapdragon chipsets across all Galaxy S23 models, while Exynos appeared only in some S24 variants.
The Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, launched earlier this year, all use Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.
Meanwhile, launch of the new generation Galaxy S26 series models in India is expected next year in January or March.
According to multiple reports and industry watchers, the model is slated to compete with with several flagships in the market, including the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
If reports can be believed, the price of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 5G mobile price in India is expected to be around Rs 1,59,999 for the base model.
There is also buzz doing rounds that it may offer 12GB of RAM with 3 storage options of 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.
However, industry watchers expect that the official pricing will be based on the storage variants.
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