Is it a paradox? ‘Policy change igniting Innovation.’ Usually, we relate innovation with the launch of new products only. There are several domains of innovation, and one such domain is ‘stakeholder’ with an aim to create synergy with external stakeholders like vendors, customers, education Institutions, environment or the society as a whole. One of the industries highly regulated and controlled is the ‘Financial’ sector. The invasion of technology in the financial sector is called FinTech. It’s visible how policy changes and new laws have been igniting innovation in the recent times, like never before. There’s an interesting trend setting quote from Arun Jaitley who said, “That is 1 billion unique Aadhaar numbers linked to 1 billion bank accounts and 1 billion mobile phones. Once that is done, all of India can become part of the financial and digital mainstream.” I recently participated in the ET Startup Awards where several individuals from the field of finance were present. The energy was simply fantastic and it gave me a lot of valuable insights into our Union Minister’s talk on financial inclusion and he also shared some thoughts of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. I captured 3 of those thoughts:

• ‘If You Don’t Innovate, You Stagnate.’

• “IT + IT = IT stands for ‘Information Technology + Indian Talent = India Tomorrow’” The role of IT as a change agent stands as a shining light —  connecting people with the government and reducing the gap between demand and supply.

• Although institutions and the industry churns out innovative individuals, there is still a huge skill gap and it’s only widening. Our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi addressed the role of young people as change agents towards a digital India. ‘Skill India’ is not just a statement, it’s a movement.

As an Innovation Coach and having grown up as Technopreneur, these thoughts sounded like music to me. It’s also a great inspiration to a create positive impact through the youth of India.   I’m sure you all remember November 2016, when demonetization came into the picture, and it appeared to be a challenge for the entire country. The government urged and encouraged citizens to opt for mobile payment and net banking — to go digital. The government also requested private mobile companies to come up with new digital payment options that would be easy for the poorer sections of the Indian society. And thus began the journey of exploring new FinTech avenues in the Indian scene. Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is a step in this direction. Paytm is not a stranger in this scenario either. With the introduction of such apps, digital payment is helping Indians facilitate their lives more easily. During a recent interaction with Arunabh Choudhary, Partner and Attorney at Juris Corp, I asked him, “Is law an impediment or accelerator to innovation?” He clearly explained how policy is a guideline for lawmakers and it brings in discipline. Technology and innovation are inseparable twins, who act as powerful enablers for each other. One supports the other to in-turn accelerate the other. There’s potential to create a large impact, and thus, we can safely say that policy change can be an accelerator to innovation. There is so much happening and the Indian scenario is already discovering more options to go digital. The impact it creates knows no bounds. In no time, innovation will be booming in India and there’s no turning back. Policies can definitely ignite innovation and it won’t take too long to become a reality. With competition growing every day, it is imperative for companies to come up with innovative methods to stay ahead of the game. The same, old methods aren’t going to get your business at the top of the Forbes’ list.