India's payments leadership could spawn global fintech giants

India's commanding position in real-time payments creates an unprecedented opportunity for homegrown fintech companies to emerge as multinational enterprises, Razorpay CEO Harshil Mathur said Wednesday at the Global Fintech Fest.

Mathur drew parallels between India's current fintech trajectory and the rise of American technology behemoths such as Google and Amazon, which capitalized on the United States' early internet dominance to build globally-scaled businesses. "Real-time payments are going to create massive opportunity for Indian companies to go and capture their growth," Mathur said, adding that "a lot of large multi-billion dollar companies could come out of India because they'll be able to capture their growth in other parts of the world."

India currently accounts for 49 percent of all real-time payments globally—a commanding share that underscores the maturity of the country's digital payments infrastructure and regulatory framework. However, Mathur expressed hope that growth in real-time payments will spread more broadly across international markets, distributing opportunity beyond India's current dominance.

The remarks highlight the competitive advantage held by Indian fintech startups entering global markets with sophisticated payment technologies already battle-tested at domestic scale. As cross-border payment corridors expand and emerging markets adopt real-time infrastructure, Indian firms are positioned to capitalize on their technological and operational experience.