BW Festival of Fintech 2026 to explore how finance is being built into everyday life

BW Businessworld is set to host the BW Festival of Fintech 2026 on 10 July 2026 at Taj MG Road, Bengaluru, bringing together leaders from across banking, technology, regulation and capital markets for a full day of sessions, panel discussions and award recognitions. The event will be organised around the theme ‘Embedded by Design: The Invisible Future of Finance | From Products to Experiences’, which looks at how financial services are increasingly being built directly into apps, platforms and everyday products rather than offered as standalone services.

What the Conference Is About

Finance is no longer something people go looking for. It shows up inside the platforms and products they already use, whether that is a buy-now-pay-later option at checkout, insurance built into a ride-hailing app, or credit scoring that runs quietly in the background. The Festival of Fintech 2026 will look at what this shift means for companies, consumers and regulators alike.

Sessions will cover embedded payments, contextual lending, API-driven financial products, AIbased personalisation, digital public infrastructure, and how companies can build trust with customers when financial services are no longer visible in the traditional sense. The day will open with a keynote by Shri T. Rabi Sankar, Former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and close with a keynote by Ms. Praveena Rai, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX).

Speakers and Panellists

The conference will see participation from senior leaders across the financial services and technology ecosystem. Confirmed speakers include Mr. Gautam Arora, Director and Area Head, Global Payments Solutions, South India, HSBC Bank; Mr. Prabhas K. Rath, Chief General Manager, Department of Economic and Policy Analysis, SEBI; Ms. Aditi Jain, Head of Strategic Network Engagements, Razorpay; Mr. Abhishek Lahiri, Head of Government Affairs, South Asia, MasterCard; Mr. Shirish Mathur, Head of Digital MSME Lending and Payments, Aditya Birla Capital; Mr. Vipul Saini, Assistant Vice President, Startup Product, HDFC Bank; Mr. Ashish Aggarwal, Vice President and Head of Public Policy, Nasscom; and Mr. Antriksh Parmar, Vice President, Financial Services, ONDC.

Other speakers include Ms. Pallavi T. Madhok, Vice President, Advisory Services, Women’s World Banking; Ms. Sai Sudha, Chief Executive Officer, India Fintech Foundation; Mr. Ranganath Sadasiva, Chief Technology Officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Ms. Tanya Naik, Head of Online and Omnichannel Business, Pine Labs; Mr. Vamsi Madhav, Chief Executive Officer, Finvu AA; Mr. Pawan Kumar Choudhary, Chief Technology Officer, Zinnia Digital Services; Mr. Prasanth Ramdas, Partner, Khaitan and Co.; Mr. Vinod G., General Manager and Head of Data Science and Analytics, South Indian Bank; Mr. Prasanna Lohar, President, India Finance Network and Founder, Finnovation Lab; Mr. Aakarsh Naidu, Managing Partner, B-FAIR Labs; Mr. Bertram D’Souza, Digital Infrastructure Leader; Mr. Samar Rushi Kagalwalla, Head of Marketing, CSB Bank; and Mr. Shashank Sharma, Director, ScoreMe Solutions, among others.

Panel discussions will be curated by Mr. Sharat Chandra, Founder, EmpowerEdge; Mr. Prithwish Sinha, Director, Payments Transformation, PwC India; Ms. Avantika Gode, Vice President, Startup Policy Forum; Mr. Vipul Saini, Assistant Vice President, Startup Product, HDFC Bank; and Dr. Vaibhav S. Joshi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Tableturn Tech.

The Fintech Awards 2026

Alongside the conference, the Fintech Awards 2026 will recognise companies and individuals who have made a real impact on India’s financial technology space. The awards cover a wide range of categories, from digital payments and lending to insurtech, wealthtech, blockchain, AI, and cybersecurity, as well as recognitions for founders, policymakers and institutions driving change in digital banking.

Winning or being nominated at the Fintech Awards gives companies and leaders greater visibility in the industry and opens doors to conversations with investors, regulators and potential partners.

The Bigger Picture

The BW Festival of Fintech has been running since 2021 and has grown into one of the most well-attended events in India’s fintech calendar. This year’s edition comes at a time when embedded finance is moving from a niche conversation to something that is actively reshaping how companies across e-commerce, mobility, healthcare and other sectors think about their product offerings.