Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has outlined a larger role for Mumbai in the future of financial technology, saying the city can help develop and test the next generation of responsible financial AI.
Speaking at the opening session of Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026, Fadnavis said digital finance is moving beyond basic access to financial services towards giving people greater “agency”.
“The first generation of digital finance gave the people access. The next generation can give the people agency,” Fadnavis said.
He said agentic AI could help MSME entrepreneurs understand cash flows, predict working capital needs, find financing options and make better financial decisions. It could also bring advanced financial advice to consumers who have traditionally lacked access to such services.
“Imagine a farmer receiving financial advice in Marathi. Imagine every citizen having access to financial intelligence that today requires teams of professionals,” he said.
Fadnavis stressed that consumers must remain in control as AI takes on more financial decisions.
“AI may act for the citizen, but the citizen must remain in control,” he said. He added that future finance must balance intelligence with accountability, innovation with consent, and speed with security.
“In finance, ultimately, trust is the technology on which every other technology rests,” Fadnavis said.
He said Maharashtra wants to become a “laboratory” for fintech rather than only a market for financial products. The state is connecting its financial and technology ecosystems across Mumbai, Pune and Navi Mumbai, while expanding capabilities in AI, data centres, GCCs, startups and advanced technology.
“Bring us your most ambitious ideas,” Fadnavis said, highlighting applications in agriculture, MSMEs, public finance, fraud prevention and citizen services.
“If a solution can work at Maharashtra scale and complexity, it can work almost anywhere in the world,” he said.
Fadnavis also linked AI with tokenisation and quantum computing, the other key technologies at GFF 2026.
He said Maharashtra is developing the architecture for the Maharashtra Digitisation and Exchange of Land Token Asset Act, or Delta Act, to create a legal framework for blockchain-based tokenisation of land and other immovable assets. The state is working with SEBI, BSE, NSE, industry, technology, law and academia on the framework, with a focus on legal certainty, consumer protection and regulatory trust.
On quantum computing, he said India’s growing digital economy must prepare for changes in computing power and risks to the cryptography supporting financial transactions.
“Mumbai should increasingly become the city where the future of global finance is designed,” Fadnavis said.
“The next global financial protocol can be designed here… and the next breakthrough in the responsible financial AI can be built here.”
He said Maharashtra aims to become India’s largest real-world fintech test bed, working with innovators, institutions and regulators to test new solutions and deploy them at scale.
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