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Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous society under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, today launched its 24^th Center of Entrepreneurship (CoE) - "FinGlobe," dedicated to fostering innovation and growth in the financial technology sector, at STPI-Gandhinagar, GIFT City. Shri K Rajaraman, Chairperson, International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) inaugurated the CoE and its maiden Open Challenge Program (OCP) for the startups amidst the presence of Ms Mona K Khandhar, Principal Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Government of Gujarat and other dignitaries.

The FinGlobe CoE, which has been set up in association with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat, aims to serve as a catalyst for the development and proliferation of cutting-edge technologies within the financial services domain. By providing state-of-the-art infrastructure, expert mentorship, and a collaborative ecosystem, FinGlobe CoE seeks to empower startups, entrepreneurs, and established players to ideate, innovate, and scale their solutions in the FinTech, TechFin, Banking Industry and allied domains. The CoE provides 50 Plug-n-Play incubation seats.

Five MoUs were exchanged by STPINext Initiatives with its CoE partners i.e., (n)Code Solutions (IT Division of GNFC Limited); Centre for Advancing and Launching Enterprises (CrAdLE), a Technology Business Incubator at Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), Ahmedabad; Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar; GVFL Limited and TiE- Ahmedabad.

“If we look at the economic reforms that have happened in the last 25 years, the most important reform is the tax reform. This helped in improving the health of the Indian financial system and financial sector at large. Financial institutions are all healthier because of this reform. All of them have become more prudential when it comes to managing their finances. All these enabled us to build the financial ecosystem, building trust globally. In every sector, we have to have global-scale companies and technology platforms can help to achieve that. We at IFSCA are building such regulations so that foreign investors don’t face any issues when they land in India. With this FinGlobe CoE, startups will build solutions for the rest of the world. We are happy to support and facilitate this CoE,” said Shri K Rajaraman during the launch of the event.

“The launch of this CoE is an important journey towards making Gujarat a Fintech hub. All these efforts will deepen the ecosystem of FinTech further. We have also planned a hackathon and start onboarding the startups. We have a long association with STPI. The disruption in IT sector continues with the emergence of artificial intelligence and we are working to leverage this technology,” said Ms Mona K Khandhar.

On the occasion, DG STPI Shri Arvind Kumar conveyed his message, “STPI is actively engaged in promoting IT/ITeS industry & startups in the state of Gujarat through its two centres in Gandhinagar and Surat. Both centres are driving digital transformation, fostering job creation, and contributing to Gujarat's emergence as a prominent IT destination in times to come. Now, seeing the potential of FinTech domain in the state, STPI is expanding its footprint by establishing its 24th CoE in the FinTech domain at GIFT-City in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of Gujarat. This FinTech CoE will provide the requisite support like state-of-the-art incubation infrastructure, Sandbox Environment, Industry APIs, Payment Gateways, mentoring, industry & market connect to the startups.”

The CoE was established so that by investing in technology and paying attention to changing trends, startups can penetrate new areas of the financial system and change the competitive landscape. It will provide a platform for startups as well as potential investors to innovate new products and services with the latest trends.

Startups in India are contributing towards bringing down the unemployment rate in the country to a great extent, Software Technology Park of India Director General Arvind Kumar said here on Wednesday.

Kumar was in the city recently to unveil STPI incubation facility.

Any NGO registered as a private limited company with a novel idea that meets the set criteria can be taken up as a startup.

Interacting exclusively with IANS, he said, "Currently, around 10,000 startups are being supported by us, and these entities have been instrumental in creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs. In the long run, they are going to create a very large volume of jobs, he added.

In Rajasthan, there are around 80-85 startups being supported by his technology park, he said.

To a question on fear of slowdown and startup failure, he said, "Startup failure is gradually reducing in India. Startup itself means a new idea which needs to find acceptance in the market and hence there are chances of failure and hence comes its name as start-up which means you don't have hundred per cent chances of success. However, these days, we are working on an idea to bring in the problem statement from industry, so that there are less chances of failure and more chances of acceptability and adaptability, he added.

 "We have started doing industry collaborations so startup failure has reduced. Now, there are Industry and academy partners as well and we are also providing administrative support to them," said Kumar.

He further said that failure is a part of the startup ecosystem not just in India but also in the developed part of the world. "Our country has just embarked on the journey of startups, so naturally failures will be little more compared to those countries which started it some three decades back," he said.

In developed countries, the success rate may be more because India has the first generation of start-ups compared to the US and other such countries which have third generation of startups. "We are at an evolving stage of startups", he added.

 On the challenges, he said, "Earlier, getting funds was one of the challenges. However, now since NRIs want to come back to India and become angel investors, funds are not as much of an issue as it was 20 years back."

Meanwhile, another challenge is the market, so startups are now being connected with the state govt for ease of business.

Startup ecosystem is now working on networking and it has to be increased, he suggested further.

Networking can help them to get to market and to find market problems as well, he added.