India Takes Control of the Financial Tech Frontier

Something remarkable is happening in India’s financial sector. A country once seen mainly as a services powerhouse is now becoming a laboratory for global innovation. When the Broadridge Client Summit 2025 took place in Bengaluru, the energy in the room made it clear: India isn’t just keeping pace with technology. It’s helping write the rulebook for how global finance will operate in the next decade.

Leaders from Broadridge and other firms spoke openly about this transition. Chris Perry, President of Broadridge Financial Solutions, said that India has moved beyond being the “engine room” of global finance. Today, the decisions that shape financial systems are increasingly being made here. That statement resonated with the crowd. India’s blend of engineering skill, financial knowledge, and sheer scale is giving it a seat at the head of the global table.

Digital life is expanding in every direction, from payments and savings to entertainment. More users are choosing to make purchases online in e-commerce stores. It’s also more convenient to manage your savings with your bank online as opposed to going into a branch. Even some of the top online casinos have started using better regulation and faster digital payments. Indian poker websites have become a case study in how secure, real-money platforms can blend trust and technology. Many now use blockchain-based verification and instant withdrawal systems.

This digital familiarity across online services, banking, and entertainment is driving an investment boom. The number of dematerialized accounts in India has climbed from about 40 million in 2020 to nearly 200 million. That’s not a small jump. It’s a revolution in how people view wealth. Everyday investors, once kept on the sidelines by complexity or cost, can now buy shares or mutual funds from their phones. Affordable trading platforms and easy mobile access have opened doors to a generation that sees investing as a normal part of life.

Tokenization is changing the pace of global trading. Blockchain can now cut settlement times to nearly zero, reducing costs and risks along the way. Broadridge’s Distributed Ledger Repo platform already handles over four trillion dollars in trades each month. That’s a staggering amount, but what’s more interesting is how quietly these technologies have blended into the background. To most users, trading feels faster and smoother. Behind the scenes, India’s growing expertise in blockchain infrastructure is driving that progress.

Artificial intelligence is another powerful thread in this story. With nearly half of India’s AI and machine learning graduates ready to work in the field, the country is quickly becoming an AI talent hub. Financial firms are using AI to automate reporting, analyze risk, and personalize investment advice. Tools like Broadridge’s BondGPT and OpsGPT are taking on tasks that once required entire teams, freeing human workers to focus on creative and strategic work instead.

Good data remains the foundation. Broadridge’s BRx ontology offers a way to unify messy, scattered information across departments. Instead of constantly translating between incompatible systems, firms can plug into a single structure that supports both legacy and modern software. That might sound technical, but in practice, it means less duplication, faster insights, and more reliable reporting. Clean data isn’t glamorous, but it’s what makes AI useful in real life.

Still, the summit wasn’t just about technology. Many speakers returned to one theme: responsibility. Innovation brings benefits, but it also brings risk. Security, fairness, and ethical AI use came up again and again. India’s emerging leadership in these technologies means the country will have to set examples for others to follow. The question is no longer whether India can lead, but how it chooses to do so.

By the end of the event, one idea stood out. The world’s financial future is being coded and tested in India. The energy, experimentation, and confidence on display in Bengaluru hinted at what’s ahead. The nation that once powered back offices is now piloting the cockpit. This time, the flight path runs straight through India.