What comes to mind when you think of financial technologies? Probably, an app that enables stock market trading or mobile banking. The foundation for what is taken for granted can be traced back to the internet boom, followed by the smartphone era. This is when finance and technology merged. Notably, tech-genius and visionary entrepreneur, Jignesh Shah, had envisioned such an era decades ago, and worked towards realising this vision by establishing Jignesh Shah Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL), now known as 63 Moons Technologies Limited.
Under Jignesh Shah’s visionary leadership, FTIL didn’t merely upgrade existing systems; it reimagined the very fabric of how markets operated by democratising access, fostering local innovation, and creating world-class institutions. Here are five key ways Jignesh Shah and Financial Technologies (Jignesh Shah FTIL) fundamentally transformed India’s financial markets.
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Pioneering FinTech Before it Was a Buzzword
Today, the term ‘FinTech’ is ubiquitous. It rolls off tongues, conjuring images of sleek apps, digital currencies, and the seamless integration of finance with technology. Yet, long before this buzzword permeated global discourse, Jignesh Shah Financial Technologies (FTIL) was already embodying its very essence. Their core ethos was the prophetic merger of finance and technology, driven by the belief that technology was not just a tool but the very core of future financial innovation.
Jignesh Shah and Financial Technologies (FTIL) were driven by a pioneering spirit, which instilled a belief that technology wasn’t an accessory to finance but its indispensable engine, fostering a climate where innovation in financial services became not just possible, but expected.
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Democratising Market Access with Technology
Before Jignesh Shah Financial Technologies (FTIL) stepped onto the scene, participating in India’s capital markets was often an ordeal. The process was cumbersome, often involving layers of paperwork, phone calls, and significant delays. Then came the Open Dealer Integrated Network, commonly known as ODIN.
Jignesh Shah Financial Technologies (FTIL) created ODIN, which was more than just a trading platform; it was a democratising force. It shattered the cost barrier and geographical limitations that had long plagued the brokerage community. Suddenly, a small broker in a Tier-2 city could access diverse markets with a similar efficiency and sophistication as a large firm in Mumbai. This transformed the operational landscape for countless brokers, who found their costs drastically reduced and their reach exponentially expanded. ODIN’s widespread adoption, capturing over 80% market share, led to an explosion in electronic trading, fundamentally broadening market participation and empowering individual investors and smaller towns across India.
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Building World-Class Exchanges
For too long, India’s financial market infrastructure, especially outside the equity segment, lacked the robustness, transparency, and global competitiveness seen in developed economies. Many looked to foreign models as the gold standard. However, Jignesh Shah Financial Technologies (Jignesh Shah FTIL) had a different vision: to build world-class exchanges, entirely ‘Made in India’.
Launched in 2003, MCX was a technologically superior, Indian-made platform that brought unprecedented transparency, liquidity, and regulation to the nation’s vast, often unorganised, commodity markets. MCX transformed how farmers could hedge their risks, how businesses managed price volatility, and how commodities were integrated into formal finance. Its success, which saw it quickly rise to become one of the world’s top commodity futures exchanges, solidified India’s position on the global commodity map.
Its resilience was particularly striking during the 2008 Lehman Brothers crisis, when global equity and forex markets reeled. Amidst that turmoil, it was the robust and continuous trading on commodity exchanges like MCX that notably kept the Indian markets thriving, providing a vital alternative avenue for trading, proving the inherent stability and crucial role of a well-regulated commodities market built on strong domestic Intellectual Property (IP).
Jignesh Shah Financial Technologies (FTIL) was also responsible for establishing the MCX-SX (Jignesh Shah MCX-Stock Exchange) and Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). Their vision of developing global-standard exchanges across Indian borders manifested in the form of the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX), etc.
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Forging a 360-Degree Financial Ecosystem
In the pre-FTIL era, financial services in India often operated in silos. Jignesh Shah envisioned something far grander: a holistic, 360-degree financial ecosystem. He saw the inherent interdependencies and aimed to create a seamless, end-to-end financial value chain.
Think of Atom Technologies (ATOM), which revolutionised payment processing; the robust depositories and clearing corporations that streamlined post-trade activities; Tickerplant, which provided crucial real-time financial data; and even National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC), which innovated in warehousing and collateral management for commodities. Each piece from Jignesh Shah and Financial Technologies (FTIL) interlocked, creating a more efficient, secure, and comprehensive market infrastructure, fostering deeper financial penetration.
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Championing Indigenous IP and Innovation
For a long time, India was largely seen as a consumer of global financial technology, or a provider of IT services to build solutions for others. There was a significant reliance on foreign technology vendors for complex financial software and core infrastructure. But Jignesh Shah and Financial Technologies (FTIL) proved that India could not only consume but also create cutting-edge financial technology from the ground up.
This wasn’t about mere software services; it was about developing proprietary intellectual property that was world-class in its design and execution. This revolutionary shift from technology consumer to technology creator has had a lasting impact on India’s global standing in the digital economy.
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The Results of a Revolution
Jignesh Shah Financial Technologies (Jignesh Shah FTIL) demolished barriers to access, built globally recognised institutions, created an integrated ecosystem, championed indigenous innovation, and, in doing so, ignited India’s FinTech journey. Much of India’s current financial prowess, its rapid digital inclusion, and its growing global stature in financial technology stand firmly on the innovative foundations laid by Jignesh Shah’s pioneering vision.
FTIL’s revolutionary spirit continues to impact the evolution of India’s financial ecosystem, now as 63 moons technologies, poised to conquer new frontiers in the ongoing digital transformation, especially in the emerging technologies comprising cybersecurity and cryptocurrency.
