Indian government and Singapore central bank sign agreement to promote financial technology innovation in blockchain and digital payments

Andhra Pradesh, a state in southern India, has announced a collaboration with Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), to promote financial technology innovation focused on blockchain and digital payments.

Last Saturday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the government of Andhra Pradesh, India, signed a "Fintech Cooperation Agreement" in India. Andhra Pradesh is known for its high-tech awareness and has always encouraged foreign companies to invest and cooperate in its territory to build infrastructure.

The partnership will “explore joint technological innovation projects such as digital payments and blockchain,” the release by Singapore’s central bank said, highlighting blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin.

The collaboration will also develop FinTech-based curriculum for educational programmes in Andhra Pradesh.

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), outlined the rationale for the partnership in a statement. Mohanty said:

“From MAS’s perspective, we are creating a marketplace in India for fintech solutions that are already mature in Singapore. This will help Singaporean fintech startups looking for opportunities in India.”

Blockchain Applications

A big news related to India’s financial and banking industry recently was that due to the increasing malware, security vulnerabilities were found in nearly 3.2 million debit cards. Mohanty pointed out that as of July 2016, India had issued 697 million debit cards. In such a country, the use of blockchain technology will fill such loopholes.

Moreover, a blockchain pilot project will be launched in the province’s food and civil supplies departments to prevent the theft of funds. According to an Indian media report, the IT adviser to the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh government plans to apply blockchain technology to a pilot project in the province’s food and civil supplies departments in order to “plug the loopholes of fund loss.”

A hub for financial technology

Singapore, a country known for encouraging technological development, has a friendly stance towards technological innovations such as Bitcoin and blockchain. Singapore is the base for many "Blockchain and Fintech Innovation Centers" such as IBM and R3. In late 2015, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that Bitcoin and blockchain technology are innovative technologies that will change the financial industry. Chris Larsen, CEO of Ripple Labs, emphasized in his call for the next president to appoint a Fintech advisor that Singapore has become a hub for Fintech and has surpassed the United States in this era of Fintech.

Meanwhile, Indian private banks have begun developing blockchain solutions in the field of international remittances and financial transactions. Recently, multiple blockchain pilots have been successfully implemented, and an IT services giant recently revealed that the number of blockchain projects under development exceeded 100.