AI Impact Summit 2026: French PM Emmanuel Macron lauds India’s UPI system
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday reflected on how, ten years ago, a street vendor in Mumbai struggled to open a bank account due to the lack of documents or a formal address. Today, he noted, that same vendor can receive instant, free digital payments from customers across the country. Through this example, Macron underscored how India’s creation of a digital identity system covering 1.4 billion people has reshaped daily life and expanded financial access.
Addressing Day 4 of AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, Macron lauded India’s digital growth and its digital payment system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), adding that India’s digital payment system now processes 20 billion transactions every month.
