Nirmala Sitharaman flags weaponisation of know-how, bats for utilizing it for international good

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (October 7, 2025) pitched for utilizing know-how for public good, whereas expressing her disappointment at “weaponising” the developments on the international degree.

The Finance Minister asserted India is a world fintech chief, which has set benchmarks in innovation, scale and inclusion. “…the simple motive is that it (technology) should be for the public good. And at no point of time it gets weaponised,” she mentioned, whereas talking on the annual Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai.

“It is important to constantly remind ourselves that technology cannot be in that sense truly mastered, but having obtained certain propriety, rights over some part of it, we should refrain from weaponising it,” she added.

Ms. Sitharaman mentioned we’ve “constantly” seen situations of inward wanting attitudes together with know-how developments. The thought of “global progress itself gets questioned because of weaponising it”, the FM added. She, nonetheless, didn’t elaborate additional or provide any particular situations that led her make the remarks.

The feedback come at a time when a number of nations have taken measures, ensuing into restrictions in commerce and improvements. The U.S., the world’s largest financial system and likewise a know-how powerhouse, has made main shifts in its commerce insurance policies.

At current, India is negotiating a commerce settlement with the US, which has chosen to slap excessive tariffs on Indian items and likewise steeply hiked charges for H1B visa. A bulk of the H1B visas are secured by Indian tech employees.

Foreign foreign money settlement system launched

At the occasion, Ms. Sitharaman launched the overseas foreign money settlement system in GIFT IFSC, which can facilitate seamless transactions on real-time foundation, improve liquidity administration, and guarantee compliance.

Currently overseas foreign money transactions normally get settled with a lag of 36 to 48 hours. Ms. Sitharaman mentioned with the operationalisation of the overseas foreign money settlement system, GIFT City joins a choose checklist of monetary centres that embody Hong Kong, Tokyo, Manila, and another centres which have the infrastructure to settle overseas foreign money transactions regionally. Mr. Sitharaman additional mentioned fintech has democratised finance in India.

“India ranks third in fintech corporations and does half of world’s real-time digital transactions,” she mentioned, including that the federal government’s coverage has been to play a job to nurture the fintech sector via a balanced strategy. She emphasised the federal government’s enabling strategy in the direction of enterprise, know-how and innovation.

“We’d like to stay within the fringes and watch. We like to stay within the fringes and assist…we’ve to allow companies and never interrupt of their progress,” Ms. Sitharaman added. Ms. Sitharaman mentioned, “Fintech in India has not merely digitised funds however has additionally democratised finance, empowering hundreds of thousands to save lots of, make investments, borrow and insure with transparency.”