Eight Gift City 'TechFin' companies provide platforms to global enterprises

Singapore, Nov 22 (PTI) At least eight 'TechFin' companies are operating from Gandhinagar's tax-exempt GIFT City, providing platforms to global enterprises for developing technologies for financial services, IFSCA Chairman K Rajaraman said.

Officials are actively working to establish a world-class FinTech ecosystem within this hub, he added.

"These eight TechFin companies authorized under the IFSCA’s FinTech Entity Framework are already providing techfin services to platforms globally and in India," the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) chairman said.

The IFSCA's FinTech Entity Framework, under the TechFin category programme, encourages companies to develop technologies for financial services. This initiative would be supported by the growing presence of global banks, investment funds, and capital providers within the GIFT City.

Speaking to PTI, Rajaraman highlighted the growing importance of IFSCA's FinTech Innovation Sandbox and FinTech Regulatory Sandbox.

"Based on the Sandbox’s experiences, we have worked with the companies and actually released new regulations on the payment services," he said on the sidelines of the Singapore FinTech Festival, held from November 6-8. Four companies have been granted licenses in this segment.

"Our focus is largely on the cross-border payments like escrow services and trade finance-related activities especially for import-export companies," he added.

Set to be launched soon in the GIFT City is FinTech Innovation Hub to train talent as well as Fintech Accelerator and Incubator which aim to get more startups involved in the development of advanced technologies.

A FinTech Innovation hub is set to be launched soon in GIFT City to train talent as well as Fintech Accelerator and Incubator which aim to get more startups involved in the development of advanced technologies.

"Partners running these institutions will be announced soon," added Saurabh Singhal, Chief Commercial Officer & Chief FinTech Officer in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Ltd, related to the GIFT City and IFSCA.

"We are moving on aggressively in the Fintech space," he said, adding that 55+ Fintech entities are already operating from GIFT City.

These Fintech companies along with 140 plus funds, banks and capital market managers will form the fintech ecosystem to grow tech-driven set up for the global markets. PTI GS DR