AI takes centre stage at GFF 2025 as industry reimagines future of finance
The three-day event will bring together global leaders, policymakers, investors, innovators, and representatives from over 7,500 companies to discuss the future of finance in the age of artificial intelligence.
The Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2025 opened to a packed audience at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai on Tuesday, bringing together regulators, investors, and innovators to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the global financial landscape.
Welcoming delegates from across the world, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder of Infosys and Chairman of VC firm and startup accelerator, Axilor Ventures, set the tone for the three-day event by calling on the ecosystem to “converge, convene, and reimagine the future of finance.”
“Technology, AI in particular, is the hot thing right now,” Gopalakrishnan said in his inaugural address. “How AI is going to impact finance, how it will impact the industry, and how we can create a better financial ecosystem leveraging this new tool…” are some of the questions the ecosystem must collectively answer, he said.
Representing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Suvendu Pati, Chief General Manager, FinTech Department, highlighted the regulator’s commitment to enabling innovation through collaboration.
“This is not the pavilion of a regulator or a supervisor—it’s a pavilion for the regulator, for the innovator,” Pati said, inviting participants to visit RBI’s Innovation Pavilion. “We have curated an innovation and industry connect event to bring together innovators from our regulatory sandbox and hackathon initiatives with industry players.”
Vishwas Patel, Joint Managing Director at Infibeam Avenues, underlined the growing scale of GFF, which is now in its sixth edition. “Over the next few days, we are privileged to host thousands of delegates and exhibitors from across the globe,” Patel said. “Together, we’ll explore advancements in digital payments and engage in thought-provoking discussions about AI and its regulatory challenges.”
Echoing the collaborative spirit, Sohini Rajola, Executive Director—Growth at NPCI, called GFF both a celebration and a “culmination of all the co-creation” and wonderful work happening in the fintech ecosystem.
Adding to that, Vibhav Hathi, Co-founder and CBO at OneCard, described GFF as a space that not only allows “young minds to come, meet, see, explore and interact with the best in the class globally but also to interact and observe how the fintech landscape is changing in India.”
With over 800 speakers and thousands of attendees expected, GFF 2025 is focusing on the role of AI and how it can shape the future of finance, from digital payments and credit to compliance and risk management.
The event’s theme—Artificial Intelligence: Reimagining the Future of Finance—reflects the growing agreement that AI will not just enhance efficiency but redefine how financial systems are built, regulated, and accessed.
“Let’s together make sure that we build on our success to become even more successful,” Gopalakrishnan concluded.