Germany has put digitalisation and sustainability as high priority on its G7 presidency agenda: Doris Dietze, Head of Division, German Federal Ministry of Finance

MUMBAI, India, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2022, Doris Dietze, Head of Division, German Federal Ministry of Finance said, "Germany has put digitalisation and sustainability as high priority on its G7 presidency agenda. And with India's upcoming G20 presidency, India has a significant role in advancing global cooperation. I am very much looking forward to it."

While talking about the German startup ecosystem, she said, "Startups are key drivers for innovation. Therefore, the German government are strongly pushing the fintech sector and the startup ecosystem as a whole. At the Ministry of Finance, we are currently in the process of launching a so-called Future Financing Act to further strengthen the establishment of startups and fintechs. Moreover, the German government approved a comprehensive startup strategy to strengthen and promote young, innovative companies this year."

Stefan Halusa, Director General, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, while speaking on the topic, 'Fostering fintech-innovation – the way forward between India and Germany', said, "Currently we have around 1800 German companies which are active in India. They provide about 500 thousand jobs in the country. In the other direction we have around 600 Indian companies which are active in Germany and they created around 30,000 jobs in the country. The bilateral trade between India and Germany reached record high last year with around USD 26 billion and keep on growing. Exports to Germany are actually growing faster than exports from Germany to India and that led to the situation for the first time that India has a surplus in the bilateral trade with Germany. I think this underlines the importance of the relationships for both of our countries."

Earlier, during a knowledge sharing session at GFF 2022, Dr. Sebastian Schaefer, Managing Director & Co-Founder, TechQuartier, took the audience through the fintech landscape in Germany. Dr. Schaefer said, "The investment landscape has gone through a massive transformation in Germany. In 2020, startups here raised €6.4 billion in VC funding which was up over 20% as compared to 2019. In March 2021, the German Government launched a €10 billion Future Fund for growth stage startups. Here too, Berlin Fintechs collected 80% of the funds."

"Fintechs in Germany focus on three things - digital innovations, scalability & B2B, and partnerships. They heavily rely on future key technologies such as AI and Blockchain solutions. These fintechs work with scalable business models - 70% of them rely on online platforms or SaaS while 2/3rd of their turnover is generated through B2B," he added.

Organised and presented by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, Reserve Bank of India, International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), National Payments Council of India, the Payments Council of India (PCI) and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC), GFF 2022 was held between September 20 and 22, 2022 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. Pre-event festivities began virtually on September 19, 2022. This was the third edition of the Global Fintech Fest, and the first one where domain experts are participating from across the globe in-person and virtually.

Indian Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated GFF2022 on September 20, 2022. Among other luminaries who addressed India's largest fintech conference were Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, Shri Shaktikanta Das, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Minister of State for Finance, Government of India, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, Shri Injeti Srinivas, Chairperson, International Financial Services Centres Authority, Smt. Madhabi Puri Buch, Chairperson, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

GFF 2022 was supported by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), National Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency (Invest India), Startup India, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) and ONDC. Special Partners of GFF 2022 are World Bank Group, United Nations Capital Development Fund, BIS Innovation Hub, KNOMAD, Better Than Cash Alliance and International Finance Corporation (IFC).