In a bid to foster the country’s fledgling fintech ecosystem, a Centre of Excellence (CoE) christened FinBlue has been launched in Chennai, with support from Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and the Tamil Nadu government.
The objective of the MeitY-backed CoE is to mentor, provide technology support and funding for fintech start-ups. This is the first CoE out of the 28 planned by STPI, all over the country.
Marking the first step, the Chennai CoE has launched a Startup Pitch Fest for identifying eligible and innovative startups for ‘FinBlue’ programme.
FinBlue will be a first-of-its-kind incubation facility, which aims to further strengthen India as the leader in fintech industry by providing accessibility to technology, mentorship and more. It will also help startups gain access to a robust fintech ecosystem that consists of bankers, financial institutions, mentors, investors and a platform supporting go-to-market strategy.
Omkar Rai, director general, STPI & chairman of governing council of FinBlue, said: “This is a part of STPI’s nationwide initiative to transform India into a software product nation capitalising on the strong IT services industry by providing an ecosystem in all the emerging technologies. This is being done in collaboration with stakeholders such as industry leaders, industry associations, academia, venture capitalist and government bodies.”
Fintech being one of the emerging technologies in banking and financial services domain has been chosen as one of the priority domains for setting up a CoE at STPI Chennai. In order to ensure that all CoEs work in the most professional manner, industry veterans and leaders are being requested to become chief mentors to fintech startups but also head the decision-making body of the CoEs.
“We acknowledge the support provided by TamilNadu government in supporting FinBlue in terms of providing 50% funding. It is because of the support of the govt, FinBlue CoE has become the first and fastest CoE among all 28 CoEs being implemented by STPI in India,” Rai said.
Chennai is home to 173 fintech startups and companies such as Bank Bazaar and FSS have made a strong impression in the marketplace.
Santhosh Babu, principal IT secretary to Tamil Nadu government, said, “This is yet another significant initiative of the Tamil Nadu government to further strengthen the reputation of being a leader in tech space. This initiative has the support of credible partners, particularly TiE Chennai, which enjoys greater association with entrepreneurs across levels. Tamil Nadu government will surely make use of advanced technological development for sustained growth as well as promoting the industry across the state.”
Arun Jain, chairman and CEO, Intellect Design Arena, founder of Polaris, and chief mentor of FinBlue, said, “Globally, our products and services have been benchmarked for innovations and design. The creation of the fintech startup ecosystem as a CoE comes at the right time. We believe that it has the potential to create and disrupt the fintech segment by helping the startup community to grow further.”
