When the story of India’s financial markets’ unparalleled growth and scale is told, one name inevitably rises above the rest: Jignesh Shah. Not because he followed the system well, but because he refused to accept it as it was. Through Jignesh Shah Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL), now known as 63 moons technologies, He didn’t merely modernise trading in India, he reimagined it from the ground up. What he built was not a set of isolated platforms, but a living, breathing market infrastructure that replaced opacity with transparency, inefficiency with speed, and exclusion with access.
Before Shah, Indian markets were fragmented, slow, and burdened by legacy processes that had little room for scale. Participation was limited, price discovery was opaque, and technology was treated as a support tool rather than the foundation. Jignesh Shah saw this not as a limitation but as an opportunity. His belief was simple yet radical for its time: if India could build world-class trading infrastructure powered by technology, it could compete with the best markets globally and, more importantly, allow millions of Indians to participate meaningfully in economic growth.
Laying the Bedrock of Modern Trading
The journey began in 1995 with the founding of FTIL. At a time when most market participants were content with incremental upgrades, Jignesh Shah was thinking in leaps. He understood that patchwork solutions would never unlock the true potential of Indian markets. What they needed was a complete technological reset.
That reset came in the form of ODIN, a broking and trading system that was both powerful and affordable. ODIN did something unprecedented, it democratised access to markets by making high-quality trading infrastructure available beyond elite institutions. Within a short span, ODIN captured over 80 percent of the market, not because it was forced through regulation, but because it worked better than anything else available. Long before “fintech” entered everyday vocabulary, Shah had already pioneered it at scale.
More importantly, ODIN changed behaviour, traders could now see prices in real time, execute trades faster, and operate with a clarity that simply did not exist earlier. Technology was no longer a barrier. It became the bridge.
A Vision Bigger Than Markets
Jignesh Shah’s ambitions were never confined to software. He believed India could become a global financial hub, something he famously described as the potential to become the “Manhattan of the East.” To achieve this, he began building institutions that matched global benchmarks in design, governance, and performance.
Using 63 moons as the technological backbone, Shah pioneered public-private partnerships in the financial sector. He convinced governments, regulators, and private stakeholders to rally around a shared vision: markets built on transparency, efficiency, and trust. This approach laid the foundation for a transformation that would ripple across asset classes.
MCX: The Exchange That Changed Everything
The most transformative outcome of this vision was the launch of the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) in 2003. Before MCX, commodity trading in India was fragmented, opaque, and largely inaccessible. Jignesh Shah MCX brought commodities onto a single, electronic, nationwide platform.
What this meant in practice was revolutionary, farmers, traders, processors, and investors could now participate in a transparent and regulated market ecosystem. Risk could be managed, and information flowed freely. Under Shah’s leadership, MCX didn’t just succeed domestically, it rose to become the world’s second-largest commodity exchange and the largest exchange globally for gold and silver futures.
Its technological strength was equally remarkable, MCX reached an unprecedented daily trade-volumes of up to ₹1,00,000 crore, a benchmark that redefined what Indian exchanges were capable of. The economic impact was tangible. Over ₹600 crore flowed to central and state governments in taxes, and more than a million livelihoods were created directly and indirectly through its ecosystem. MCX didn’t just change markets. It changed lives.
Building a Network of World-Class Exchanges
MCX was not an exception. It was the blueprint.
Shah extended this model across sectors that were either underserved or structurally broken. The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) digitised electricity trading, allowing power-deficit states to access energy efficiently while helping utilities optimise costs. Electricity, once constrained by geography and long-term contracts, became a tradable, transparent commodity.
MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) entered a space dominated by century-old incumbents. Its objective was not disruption for the sake of it, but depth and efficiency. MCX-SX offered trading across equities, derivatives, currencies, and debt, introducing competition where complacency had set in.
Each exchange addressed a specific gap. Together, they formed a connected, digital-first financial network that reshaped India’s market architecture.
Technology as the Great Enabler
At the core of all this was Jignesh Shah’s unwavering faith in technology. ODIN alone powered nearly five lakh terminals across 400 towns and cities, enabling multi-asset trading in real time. This scale was unprecedented and deliberate.
Equally important was Shah’s focus on inclusion beyond urban India. Through Gramin Suvidha Kendras, developed in collaboration with India Post, rural producers gained direct access to market infrastructure. Farmers no longer had to rely on intermediaries alone. Markets reached them, not the other way around. It was financial inclusion without dependency.
Creating a Self-Sustaining Ecosystem
Shah understood that exchanges do not survive in isolation. They require supporting institutions that handle storage, payments, data, and risk. Instead of outsourcing these critical functions, he built them.
The National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) became India’s largest private warehousing and collateral management firm, handling over 20 million metric tonnes of commodities valued at ₹42,000 crore. This enabled farmers to access formal credit using warehouse receipts.
atom delivered end-to-end payment solutions across online and offline channels well before digital payments became mainstream. Ticker provided real-time financial information, empowering investors with timely data.
These were not side projects. They were structural reinforcements that ensured sustainability.
A Legacy That Redefined Possibility
Jignesh Shah’s contribution to Indian financial markets cannot be measured only in volumes or valuations. He transformed how markets functioned, who could access them, and what India could aspire to build. By digitising archaic systems, creating globally competitive institutions, and designing ecosystems that worked end to end, he gave Indian markets the momentum they needed in the post-reform era.
From commodities to energy, from urban traders to rural producers, the markets Shah built reached everyone. That reach, combined with scale and integrity, is his enduring legacy.
