World is facing conflicts and trade tensions, but India offers ‘fresh hope’, says Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday, highlighted growing global confidence in India's economy, saying the country's strong growth despite global conflicts, supply-chain pressures and trade tensions has emerged as a source of hope for the world.

Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2026, Modi pointed to India's 7.8 per cent growth in the April-June quarter and the recent upgrade of India's sovereign rating by a Japanese credit rating agency as indications of increasing international trust in the country and its ecoonomy.

"All of you are well aware of the current global situation. The world is passing through a phase of conflicts and uncertainty. There is pressure on energy and commodity supply chains. There is tension regarding trade," Modi said.

He said these difficult global conditions had persisted for months, with the April-June quarter being particularly challenging.

"Even then, when India grows by 7.8 per cent, the world sees a fresh hope," he said.

Modi said India's sovereign ratings offered another indication of growing confidence in the economy.

He pointed out that a Japanese credit rating agency recently upgraded India's sovereign rating to the A category.

"Very few people know that this has come after three decades, after 30 years," Modi said, according to news agency ANI.

According to PM Modi, this development demonstrates confidence in India's economic trajectory. "This shows that the world is so assured of India's growth momentum, our macroeconomic stability and structural reforms in the past few years," he said.

Modi added that the government's reform agenda would continue at an even faster pace. "India's reform express will go ahead even faster," he said.

The prime minister also highlighted India's rapid transformation in financial technology, particularly the growth of the UPI. "India's Fintech story has been amazing. A big champion of this is UPI," Modi said. He said UPI had brought about such a significant transformation that any discussion about fintech would now be incomplete without it.

UPI completed 10 years on August 25.

Modi recalled that when he spoke a decade ago about bringing banking to people's fingertips, even some well-informed people considered the idea impossible.

He said more than ₹2,400 crore of transactions were carried out through UPI in August alone.

Modi also referred to French President Emmanuel Macron's remarks on UPI, saying the French leader had described it as "not just a tax story but a civilisational story".

The PM said UPI is currently live in 11 countries, but added that its international expansion should not stop there. "UPI has reached several places. But this is just the first step," he said.