5G internet to provide big opportunities to expand financial coverage: IDFC First Bank head

Availability of high-speed internet in rural areas will present huge opportunities and help improve the penetration of financial services in the country, IDFC First Bank Managing Director and CEO V Vaidyanathan said on Wednesday. “I think 5G is going to be a really big deal as and when things stabilise and people start using it. The fact is that internet (coverage) in the rural areas is only 25 per cent. So can you think about it when internet in rural areas touch something like 90 per cent?

“How vast parts of rural areas can get penetrated and what opportunities will be there, it is just unbelievable,” Vaidyanathan said while delivering his keynote address at the two-day Global Fintech Fest 2020. Speaking on the topic ‘Fintechs: Where Need Meets Opportunity’, he said even as India has provided biometric IDs, it has not taken internet to much of the bottom of the pyramid, even in urban areas.