Narendra Modi Launches Banking Technology APIX in Singapore

Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Singapore, launched the APIX (Application Programming Interface Exchange) technology on Wednesday. The APIX is said to be a banking technology platform which will reach nearly two billion people worldwide, especially the ones who are still without bank accounts.

The launching event of the technology was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore T Shanmugaratnam. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, tweeting about the event, said, "PM Narendra Modi launching APIX (Application Programming Interface Exchange), a global fintech platform with Deputy PM of Singapore T Shanmugaratnam. APIX will eventually connect our companies to financial institutions globally."

The banking technology is a software designed by experts based in Hyderabad, Colombo and London in Boston-headquartered Virtusa. The main purpose behind the development of the software is to help the smaller banks, Tier 3 and 4 and reach out to people in the remote regions.

The technology is expected to people without bank accounts in 23 countries including the 10 ASEAN members. Major markets such as India and small nations including Fiji too are expected to be reached by the technology.

Modi, in his speech at the launch, said, "We must bring the unbanked 1.7 billion people in the world into the formal financial market. We must extend the security of insurance and pension to more than a billion workers in the informal sectors worldwide, who still do not have it."

He added, "We can use fintech to ensure that no dream remains unfulfilled, and no enterprise remains stillborn, because of lack of access to finance. We must make banks and financial institutions more resilient in managing risks, fighting frauds and dealing with disruption of traditional models."

The India pavilion at the Fintech Festival consisting of 18 companies was also visited by the Indian prime minister. Notably, 8 of these Indian companies are from Mumbai only and the state-owned Maharashtra Information Technology Corp Ltd (MahaIT) organized the pavilion. Modi is on a two-day visit to Singapore.

Last year, in total 30,000 participants from over 100 countries came to attend the Fintech Festival. Notably, the festival is at its third year this time and there will be a three-day conference along with the exhibition of Fintech firms and capabilities.

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